USTDA awards SolarReserve 200MW grant for South Africa urban solar farms initiative

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
The grant will support the development of up to 200MW of privately-owned and operated solar farms ranging in size from five to 30MW. Source: Flickr/James Willamore

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a grant to SolarReserve South Africa to advance their ‘Urban Solar Farms’ initiative in South Africa.

The initiative is a comprehensive study into how to cost-effectively deploy renewable energy in urban areas via large metropolitan municipalities that have consumers with significant power requirements.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The grant will support the development of up to 200MW of privately-owned and operated solar farms ranging in size from five to 30MW. The projects will provide power to end users either directly or through wheeling arrangements with municipal distribution companies.

Urban areas suffer a chronic issue of restricted area, so the projects are primarily ground-mount and will be constructed in an area where there is high demand for daily energy consumption. The projects will also incorporate energy storage for grid-balancing and frequency regulation purposes, as well as to help defer utility substation and network upgrades, according to SolarReserve.

“This ground-breaking study has the potential to impact the way municipalities across South Africa accommodate privately-owned clean power generation within their distribution borders,” said SolarReserve's CEO Kevin Smith, who signed the grant alongside USTDA Director Leocadia Zak. “It represents a unique approach to involving the private sector in expanding South Africa's generation capacity, while stimulating job growth and small business development.”

“This unique private sector-led power solution is a clear demonstration of the impact Power Africa is having on Africa's economic development,” added Zak. “Working together with an innovative American company and a strong partner in South Africa, USTDA is proud to support increased use of renewable energy that will spur broader gains across the economy.”

The grant was officially signed during the annual US-Africa Business Forum held in New York, which is focused on strengthening trade and financial ties between the respective nations.   

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

June 30, 2025
Heliene has completed the sale of Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credits in association with Minnesota-based U.S. Bank.
June 30, 2025
Voting on the US tax reconciliation bill is expected to begin in the Senate today, following a draft published on Friday that hit clean energy tax credits hard.
June 30, 2025
US clean energy developer Clearway Energy Group has received corporate credit facilities over US$1 billion.
June 26, 2025
A round-up of news from the US solar sector this week, including Akuo, Meta and RWE.
June 26, 2025
A group of minority shareholders in Norwegian silicon firm REC Silicon has triggered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the closure of the company’s US polysilicon production site.
June 26, 2025
JUWI Renewable Energies, a subsidiary of German construction group JUWI, has signed a 220MW solar module supply agreement with JA Solar.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico