French renewable energy company Voltalia has brought its 148-megawatt Bolobedu solar farm in Limpopo province fully online, marking a significant milestone in South Africa’s private energy transition and becoming what its chief executive described as the first large-scale photovoltaic project of its kind developed in the country for a single private client.
The project is one of the largest solar installations in South Africa dedicated to meeting the energy needs of a single company through the Eskom Transmission Network under a wheeling agreement. It operates under a long-term corporate power purchase agreement with Richards Bay Minerals, South Africa’s world leader in heavy mineral sands extraction and refining and a subsidiary of the Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto.
Under the wheeling arrangement, electricity generated at Bolobedu travels through Eskom’s national grid infrastructure to reach Richards Bay Minerals’ smelting and processing facilities, without requiring a direct physical connection between the solar farm and the mine.
The farm will supply around 300 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, helping reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 237,000 tonnes annually, an amount equivalent to the yearly electricity consumption of approximately 425,000 people. For Richards Bay Minerals, the deal translates to a reduction of at least 10 per cent in annual greenhouse gas emissions, a meaningful contribution to Rio Tinto’s broader global net-zero commitment.
Werner Duvenhage, managing director of Richards Bay Minerals, framed the project as central to the mine’s long-term strategy. “This initiative is not just about energy security but also about the long-term sustainability of our mining operations. As we break ground on Zulti South, this initiative paves the way for a cleaner energy future, contributing to both the national power grid and our global decarbonisation targets,” he said.)
The project carries symbolic as well as practical weight. Voltalia partnered with two local women investors to develop the Bolobedu farm, making it the first large-scale renewable energy project in the area backed exclusively by women investors. During construction, around 800 residents from three host communities were employed, including 56 per cent youth and 21 per cent women. Local workers received on-the-job training in engineering support, panel installation and health, safety and environment practices, with the project also supporting local transport cooperatives, women-led catering businesses and handicraft providers alongside longer-term skills development programmes.
The broader context for the deal is South Africa’s worsening energy challenge. The country remains heavily dependent on ageing coal-fired power stations, and years of load-shedding have forced energy-intensive industries to seek stable electricity supply outside the national grid. According to data from the think tank Ember, South Africa added 2 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity in 2025, doubling the volume added in 2024.
In the first two months of 2026 alone, 400 megawatts of operational capacity were added, and the country’s largest single-phase solar project, a 475-megawatt plant being developed by South African independent power producer Anthem in the Free State province, began construction last month with completion expected in summer 2028. Cumulatively, the country had 14.2 gigawatts of installed solar photovoltaic capacity as of February 2026. South Africa’s target is to add 28.7 gigawatts of new solar capacity by 2039, with 10.3 gigawatts expected to come online between 2026 and 2030.
The Bolobedu project also fits within a wider continental strategy. In October 2025, Voltalia signed a strategic partnership with the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, to accelerate the deployment of sustainable energy solutions in Africa’s mining sector. The partnership aims to develop Power-to-Mine projects that reduce mines’ dependence on fossil fuels through the integration of renewable energy, hybrid systems and storage, combining Voltalia’s technical expertise with the IFC’s development approach to build a more resilient and low-carbon energy transition for mining operations across the continent.
Voltalia chief executive Robert Klein said the commissioning of Bolobedu confirmed his company’s direction. “The full commissioning of Bolobedu, the first large-scale photovoltaic project of this kind developed in South Africa for a private client, illustrates our commitment to accelerating the decarbonisation of industries and supporting an inclusive energy transition in the country, in close partnership with local communities,” he said.
For a mining sector that has long been one of Africa’s largest sources of industrial emissions, deals of this nature represent the clearest sign yet that the energy transition is no longer a distant target but an operational reality.
