Open Access Energy’s Energypro has completed its first month-end settlement for SolarAfrica’s 114MW SunCentral 1, splitting one plant’s output across three customers in a multi-buyer wheeling project.
Africa’s first purpose-built wheeling settlement platform is live. Open Access Energy’s (OAE) Energypro wheeling software platform has completed September 2026’s allocation and settlement for SolarAfrica’s 114MW SunCentral 1. It divided 7.57 GWh of energy among three commercial and industrial customers, each on its own contract. That makes SunCentral 1 the first utility-scale, multi-buyer wheeling project in Africa to be settled on locally developed, purpose-built software.
Most wheeling arrangements link one plant to one buyer. SunCentral 1, which reached commercial operation in September, shares a single plant’s output across a group of customers on the national grid, each with its own power purchase agreement (PPA), its own pattern of use and its own share of the electricity.
Energypro was built by the South African startup to settle exactly that kind of arrangement.
Each month, Energypro takes in the plant’s generation, each customer’s consumption at its delivery points and the terms of each customer’s PPA with SolarAfrica.
It then allocates the plant’s electricity across the customers, starting with those who have fixed-volume commitments. It prepares the nomination information SolarAfrica submits to Eskom, and at month-end produces the settlement data SolarAfrica uses to bill each customer.
That month-end process is what the whole arrangement depends on. The parties need to agree how much of the plant’s electricity went to each customer, on which terms and what each party owes. If they cannot agree, the arrangement stops working, however well the plant performs.
As more privately generated electricity is wheeled to multiple buyers, the systems that allocate, reconcile and settle it are becoming as important to a project’s bankability as the plant itself.
“South Africa is building a new electricity market, and it shouldn’t have to run on software designed for someone else’s grid,” says Gerjo Hoffman, CEO of Open Access Energy (OAE). “We built Energypro here, for these rules. SunCentral 1 proves it works at scale.”
“Energisation is the milestone everyone sees, and we were proud to mark it. But the real test of a wheeling deal comes every month-end, when the customer’s bill has to reflect exactly what was promised,” Hoffman adds. “Every unit of electricity must be accounted for, with every party working from the same number. That is what Energypro does.”
OAE does not own, trade or sell electricity. It acts as a neutral party between buyers and sellers, running the transactions that sit between a power plant, the grid and the customers it supplies.
“As an Independent Power Producer that sells wheeling, we rely heavily on reliable software to serve our commercial and industrial customers as we continue to bring more of our utility-scale generation sites online,” says Vincent Labuschagne, Chief Operating Officer at SolarAfrica.
“Open Access Energy has been excellent in providing day-to-day digital services and support. In addition, they worked alongside our teams to tailor Energypro to our business models and transaction flows, greatly helping us take the lead in providing wheeling to our customers,” he concludes.
SunCentral 1 is the first of three 114MW plants in the 342MW first phase of SolarAfrica’s planned 1GW SunCentral development. SunCentral 2 is in the later stages of construction, and construction of SunCentral 3 is expected to begin shortly.
Open Access Energy
Open Access Energy is the energy transactions company.
Producing or procuring renewable energy is only half the job. The other half is making sure everyone gets the value they signed for: every kilowatt-hour wheeled, metered, billed and settled, month after month. That’s the half we run, for buyers, sellers and the networks that carry the power.
Our Utility Concierge Service is the team behind it: energy experts in your corner who manage your network and supply agreements, utility approvals and tariff changes, and deal with Eskom and municipalities on your behalf. Whether you’re starting a deal or already halfway in, we pick up wherever you need us.
Energypro is the technology behind it: marketplace to find the deal, Proposals to put your offer in front of customers, and Transactions to run it once it’s signed. For municipalities, Amptera meters and bills the energy that flows across their networks.
Bring us the problem. We’ll take it from here.
SolarAfrica
Founded in 2011, SolarAfrica provides a suite of capex-free green energy solutions to the commercial and industrial sectors in South Africa.
Starting as one of the only companies in South Africa specialising in Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), we continue to pave the way towards South Africa’s energy future as a fully-fledged Independent Power Producer and renewable energy solutions provider.
Our customer-centric approach drives everything we do. Whether it’s delivering traditional solutions like solar and batteries or making innovations like wheeling more accessible to businesses: we always innovate to maximise cost savings, power security, and carbon reduction for our customers. Every partnership is built on trust, performance, and a shared commitment to long-term success. We are here to empower businesses to transition to greener energy – one project at a time.
Our company has evolved into an ambitious team who are passionate about what we do and the core values we uphold. With our flagship utility-scale solar farm, SunCentral, coming online in 2026, we can now bring the power of Wheeling to more businesses across the country. With a proven track record behind us and more innovation that awaits, we continue to bring businesses the energy solutions of tomorrow.
