AIKO will supply its high-power ABC (All Back Contact) solar modules for three utility-scale solar projects in South Africa under an agreement with Infinity Power, the largest African pure-play renewable energy provider. The deal marks the partnership’s first project in South Africa，and pushes its combined project collaboration across Africa past the 2 GWp milestone.
The agreement will see AIKO provide 1,195,136 high‑efficiency ABC modules, expected to generate more than 1,871 GWh of annual energy for the 773.5 MWp combined portfolio covering three large‑scale Infinity Power projects — Highveld, Onderstepoort Solar 1 (OS1) and Onderstepoort Solar 2 (OS2). Awarded under Bid Window 7 of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), the projects will operate under planned 20‑year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Eskom and will be built under two EPC packages — Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy on Highveld and PowerChina Guizhou Engineering on the OS1 and OS2.
Located in Mpumalanga, the Highveld project, once operational, will generate sufficient clean energy to power some 167,000 homes, while eliminating an annual 660,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. Onderstepoort Solar 1 and 2, located in the northwest, are expected to power approximately 289,000 homes and eliminate more than 1.1 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.
Ahmed Zakaria, Director of EPC and Strategic Procurement at Infinity Power, commented: “Our decision to partner with AIKO on our South African portfolio was based on its capability to meet our technical requirements and the reliable delivery commitment we have witnessed across our projects in Egypt. AIKO’s ABC technology delivers the efficiency and execution certainty required to deliver large‑scale projects under the REIPPPP framework, and we look forward to bringing the full portfolio into commercial operation.”
With the REIPPPP launched to tackle South Africa’s energy crisis, and tender tariffs falling with each successive round, project economics have become a decisive factor in module selection. The high power output of ABC modules reduces the total module count and balance-of-system (BOS) components such as mounting structures and cabling, lowering overall system costs and keeping projects economically competitive under the auction mechanism. In South Africa’s high-irradiance, high-temperature conditions, the modules’ superior temperature coefficient maintains more stable power output, lifting energy yield across a project’s full lifecycle, with efficiency reaching up to 24.1%. Low degradation rates (≤1% in the first year, and 0.35% annually from years 2 to 30) secure stable generation throughout the 20-year PPA term, enhancing long-term returns and project bankability. Full traceability across module production and delivery, together with a delivery schedule aligned to the two EPC packages, provides further certainty of execution across the three sites.
The agreement marks AIKO’s first collaboration with Infinity Power in South Africa and their third overall collaboration on the African continent, following the 258.5 MWp Nefer Benban and 1.2 GWp Nefer Menya projects in Egypt.
