Ekurhuleni Municipality launches 25 MW solar project in South Africa

The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has broken ground on a 25-megawatt solar photovoltaic project with energy storage at its Fresh Produce Market in Springs. The project is being developed by independent power producer BluEnergy, a subsidiary of Blu Label Unlimited, and partner IBS Crafts.

With an announced investment of 360 million rands, the facility will utilize market rooftops and vacant land to produce approximately 40 GWh per year, enough to meet the annual consumption of roughly 6,000 households. The municipality will purchase the electricity under a twenty-year supply contract to be injected into the local municipal grid.

This initiative is part of the broader Ekurhuleni Independent Power Producer (IPP) Programme. Under a Ministerial Determination issued via the Electricity Regulation Act, the municipality is authorized to procure up to 2,400 MW of generation capacity from various sources, including solar, natural gas, and waste-to-energy. This program aims to diversify the regional energy supply and reduce reliance on the national utility, Eskom, while attracting infrastructure investment and supporting local industrial operations.