Vodacom says it’s the first company in SA to make good on its virtual power wheeling agreement with Eskom, which aims to boost electricity on the national grid while increasing its sourcing of renewable energy.
The move also pushes the group closer towards its goal of powering group operations completely by renewable means.
According to Eskom, wheeling “is the delivery of energy from a generator to an end-user located in another area through the use of existing distribution or transmission networks”.
This may also be across multiple different distribution networks, such as through Eskom to a municipality.
A simple example of wheeling is a solar farm based in the Northern Cape selling its energy to a company in Gauteng. The electricity is delivered using Eskom’s transmission network and the municipal distribution network.
SA’s largest mobile operator said it was “the first company to fully operationalise virtual wheeling, marking a significant step forward in SA’s energy transformation journey.”
The company has delivered on the power purchase agreement with local independent power producer SOLA Group, a move it said is a major breakthrough in procuring renewable electricity for commercial operations.
In the case of Vodacom, power wheeling means the group can have power generated in one part of the country, the Karoo for example, and fed into the national grid, and receive credits for that generation from Eskom. Using these credits, Eskom can then deliver an equivalent amount of power to Vodacom sites in other parts of the country.
Vodacom achieved its latest milestone by leveraging an agnostic platform developed by its Mezzanine business, combined with renewable energy from SOLA’s solar power plant in Virginia in Free State province.
The company is seeking to capitalise on the platform by making it available to other companies looking to access such renewable energy.
The platform aggregates energy consumption across multiple points through smart metering. Energy consumption data is then reconciled with the energy generated from an IPP on the wheeling platform. This allows companies with complex and distributed operations to access renewable energy at scale.
“Executing this innovation is an immensely proud moment for Vodacom SA, and highly significant for the country’s future where energy is concerned,” said Sitho Mdlalose, CEO of Vodacom SA.
“Virtual wheeling is a game-changer for companies like ours with distributed operations, removing long-standing barriers to access renewable energy. More importantly, this achievement demonstrates our purpose to connect for a better future — one where we protect the planet, accelerate the adoption of renewable energy and contribute to the stability of the national grid.”
Mobile operators — burdened by heavy costs to keep their network running during power outages — struggled, particularly in 2023, as Eskom’s extended power cuts sometimes depleted the batteries of their cellphone towers, leading to customers losing their signal.
With persistent load-shedding still a fresh operating trauma and a rise in vandalism and theft aggravating SA’s fragile economic recovery and affecting service delivery, operators have had to take on extra costs, creeping into the billions to reduce the impact of load-shedding.
In addition to adding capacity to the power grid, the wheeling arrangement is helping Vodacom to achieve its goal of sourcing 100% of its electricity demand from renewable energy by 2025. The company is now sourcing 100% of its purchased electricity from renewable sources across its ISO50001 certified operations in Africa.
ISO50001 is an international standard for energy management systems meant to help organisations systematically improve their energy performance, reduce costs and lower their environmental impact.
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