MBB: The rooftop solar giants transforming South Africa’s energy landscape

Key topics:Rooftop solar in SA powers businesses, malls, and eases load-shedding.Terra Firma, Solareff, and SolarAfrica lead large-scale rooftop projects.Largest systems include Mercedes-Benz, Ford, and Eastgate Shopping Centre..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Hanno Labuschagne.In the past few years, a handful of companies have emerged as rooftop solar giants in South Africa, installing hundreds of megawatts of power that contribute meaningfully to reducing load-shedding.Utility-scale renewable generation expansion has slowed down due to limited transmission grid capacity in the Cape provinces, which have the greatest generation and return-on-investment potential.While large power plants will undoubtedly be necessary to meet rising energy demand, energy experts have noted that the country’s future grid will be much more distributed than it is now.Numerous smaller power stations have already popped up on the rooftops of businesses and homes across the country, bypassing the transmission grid entirely.The National Transmission Company of South Africa has estimated that there were around 7,500MWp of “behind-the-meter” solar power installations across homes and businesses by the end of 2025.However, these exclude commercial installations comprising thousands of panels with capacities greater than 100kWp, which must be registered with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).Since 2018, Nersa has registered over 18,000MW of private power capacity, a large proportion of which is commercial rooftop solar capacity.MyBroadband identified some of the major companies that are focused primarily on rooftop solar power installations rather than utility-scale ground-based systems.The company with the largest published combined rooftop solar capacity is Terra Firma, which has installed over 350MW of solar power capacity across 500 projects.Terra Firma is owned by fund management firm AP-Moller Capital and industrial group Reunert. Its major customers include Shoprite, Nestle, Spar, Discovery Investec, Growthpoint, and Redefine Properties.Among Terra Firma’s largest installations is a 5.3MWp system at the Cornubia Mall in Durban and two 5.1MWp systems at Mall of the South and Matlosana Mall.The company has also installed roughly 26MWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) and is currently managing over 12,000 electricity meters..Malls and vehicle factories leading the way.Another giant in the industry is Stanlib Asset Management’s Solareff, which has delivered over 280MWp of rooftop solar power and 47MWh of BESS capacity to date.That includes two of the five biggest rooftop solar installations in the country. The largest of these is a 7.26MWp plant on the Eastgate Shopping Centre in Germiston.It is also responsible for the 6.79MWp Boardwalk Inkwazi system in Richards Bay and the 6.53MWp system at Midlands Mall.SolarAfrica Energy is another big player, with around 133MW of solar power and 39MWh BESS operational, although some of this is located in other African countries.Its projects include the 13.5MWp system in the country at Ford’s vehicle assembly plant in Silverton, Pretoria.The plant consists of more than 30,000 panels, which can support 35% of the factory’s energy demand. Even so, it is only the second-largest rooftop solar power system in the country.The title of the largest rooftop solar power system in the country belongs to BrightBlack Energy’s plant at the Mercedes-Benz KuGompo (East London) factory, which has a 14.57MWp capacity.However, BrightBlack Energy’s portfolio of 30MWp is substantially smaller than the other three companies. Below are the five largest rooftop solar power systems in South Africa in February 2026..1. Mercedes-Benz factory in East London — 14.57MWp.Solar panels: 21,000Installer: BrightBlack EnergyProperty developer: Mercedes-Benz South Africa.2. Ford Silverton factory in Pretoria — 13.5MWp.Solar panels: 30,226Installer: SolarAfrica EnergyProperty developer: Ford Motor Company South Africa.3. Eastgate Shopping Centre in Germiston — 7.26MWp.Solar panels: 13,675Installer: SolareffProperty developer: Liberty Two Degrees.4. Trade Route Mall — 7.2MWp.Solar panels: 13,000Installer: SolarAfrica EnergyProperty developer: Trade Router Mall.5. Boardwalk Inkwazi in Richards Bay — 6.79MWp.Solar panels: 12,580Installer: SolareffProperty developer: Resilient Real Estate Investment Trust.*This article was originally published by MyBroadband and has been republished with permission.

MBB: The rooftop solar giants transforming South Africa’s energy landscape

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