AWS recently announced its first solar project in South Africa is operational and is feeding electricity into the national grid.
The 10MW solar farm is in the Northern Cape and is part of AWS commitment to supply renewable energy to their data centers.
According to AWS “The solar project is expected to generate up to 28,000MWh of renewable energy per year, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 8,000 average South African homes,”
AWS Energy director Nat Sahlstrom said the company was honoured to work with the Department of Minerals and Energy, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), and Eskom to help deliver a “new model for renewable energy generation”.
“This project brings Amazon closer to achieving net-zero carbon by 2040 and powering our operations with 100% renewable energy, a commitment we’re on the path to achieve five years early,”
The Amazon solar farm consists of more than 24,000 bifacial solar modules covering twenty hectares.
A bifacial solar panel is a double-sided energy factory that transforms sunlight into electrical energy on both its top and bottom sides. They are different from monofacial solar panels which only use one side for solar energy production.
AWS estimate the project will result in more than 25,000 tons of carbon emissions avoided annually
