French renewables company Voltalia has fully commissioned the 148MW Bolobedu solar farm in South Africa.
According to Voltalia’s CEO, Robert Klein, the project is the ‘first’ large-scale PV project to be developed in the country for a private client.
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Located in the northeastern province of Limpopo, the project has already secured a long-term corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) with Richards Bay Minerals, a heavy minerals sand extraction and refining subsidiary of mining group Rio Tinto.
This agreement aligns with Voltalia’s strategic partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) signed in October 2025 and which aims to accelerate the deployment of sustainable energy solutions in the African mining sector.
During the construction of the project, the French renewables company employed nearly 800 local residents, more than half of whom were youth workers. Local workers were trained on-the-job in engineering support, solar panel installation and health, safety and environment (HSE) awareness.
Installation of solar PV capacity continues to rise in South Africa, as shown with the latest commissioned project from Voltalia. According to data from think tank Ember, 2GW of solar PV capacity was added in 2025, doubling the volume added in 2024.
In the first two months of this year, 400MW of operational PV capacity was already added, while the “largest” single-phase solar project began construction last month, with a 475MW capacity. Developed by South African independent power producer (IPP) Anthem, the project is located in the central Free State province and is expected to finish construction in summer 2028. Cumulatively, the country has 14.2GW of installed solar PV as of February 2026, according to Ember’s data.
Utility-scale projects such as the Bolobedu solar farm from Voltalia will be key to the country reaching its target to add 28.7GW of new solar PV capacity by 2039, 10.3GW of which will be added between 2026 and 2030.
