How can rural communities benefit from South Africa’s green energy transition? A solar farm in Limpopo offers clues

South Africa, which produces about 40% of Africa's carbon emissions, is moving away from coal-fired power towards renewable energy such as solar and wind.

Many of the country's largest solar power plants are being built in sunny rural areas, where they require vast tracts of land. Generating enough electricity to power about 200 average South African homes requires around two hectares of land – roughly the size of three rugby or soccer fields.

But rural land is usually used by communities that have lived there for generations, for grazing livestock, collecting firewood and medicinal plants, or practising small-scale farming. An estimated 14% of land is under traditional ownership, with about 17 million people – 33% of the population – living on it.

As South Africa expands renewable energy, it is important not to repeat the country's long history of land dispossession and exclusion.

We are energy and land geographers who have studied solar energy and electricity access in South Africa, Namibia and Eswatini. Together with our co-author, master's student Siyamthanda Nyembezi, we wanted to understand how South Africa's rapid rollout of renewable energy can support local communities instead of becoming a justification for land grabbing.

Renewable energy projects on communal land are governed by laws like the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act, which requires communities to give informed consent before their land rights can be limited or taken away. Land under customary tenure has previously been used for game reserves and resorts, mines, petrol stations and malls.

We explored how some local and regional traditional leaders in Limpopo province felt about turning agricultural land into a solar farm, and how the decisions to approve the project were made.

The 347-hectare Bolobedu solar farm was one of South Africa's first to be built on land held under customary tenure, where land is managed through traditional systems rather than individual title deeds. The site was chosen by a solar developer who grew up in the area because it was next to an existing electricity substation, reducing the cost of connecting it to the national grid.

We interviewed traditional leaders, developers and community members in 2025, and combined geospatial surveys with satellite imagery to examine how land use had changed over time.

Our findings suggest that the project has brought economic opportunities to the region. Both state and traditional authorities tried to make the process of re-allocating the community's land to the solar company fair and accountable.

But some community members and leadership said they were still waiting to be paid for leasing their land to the solar company. Our study suggests that future projects should be more transparent about payments, involve more women in decisions and offer local people more skills training.

What the consultation process got right – and what it missed

The consultation process did some things well. Because the project was on land under customary tenure, it needed approval from both the traditional leaders and the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development. Public meetings of up to 300 people per meeting were held in all three villages for residents to ask questions, raise concerns and discuss the project. Each village then voted on whether to support it, and the decision was recorded in a formal community resolution.

However, the process could have been improved. First, the company only made verbal promises about jobs, training and other benefits. This made it difficult to hold anyone accountable later on. As one community leader put it, the promises needed to be in “black and white”. (A contract setting out specific lease payments was put in place but not immediately, and promises to build clinics and schools were not made in writing.)

Second, the approval process took several years and some of the delays came from slow government administration. There were no clear deadlines for government departments to process and sign the necessary documents.

How the communities were convinced to give up their land

The solar farm is next to three villages of 2,000-4,000 people, each led by its own chief under the centuries-old Modjadji Royal Council. It was built on former communal farmland, about 9% of which was still being cultivated. Households from the nearest village received one-off compensation for the loss of grazing land.

Voltalia, the international solar company that built the solar farm, leases the land. It's supposed to pay a rental amount (which the government and company decided on) to the three village communities.

However, the payments are made into a trust account and at the time of our interviews, the account had not yet been handed over to local leaders.

A representative of Voltalia told us:

Initially it's a trust, basically that you have to set up from nothing. You have to educate trustees how to manage the trust sufficiently, make sure it has audited financials, make sure it's got a kind of plan for the year, a budget…

However, a community leader from one of the affected villages told us “we don't know what is going on with the trust” and “we don't know who signs for that money”.

Green jobs for community members

About 400 jobs were created during the construction phase, with construction workers largely drawn from the local population, although there were skilled workers brought in from elsewhere. Local people also benefited from work in catering and transport for the construction workers. As a community member told us:

We were happy because our children are working that side … life began to change.

Community members told us they'd like to have had more skills training so they could take up permanent, skilled roles at the solar farm. As one community member said:

As for those ones (workers) that will be operating at the office … I don't think that our community will benefit from that …

Tensions also arose because the village whose residents used to farm the land taken by the solar plant believed they deserved most of the jobs. As one resident of the most affected village said:

Those who are going to benefit from that trust, is those people that side. Not us. You ask yourself why? Because this is our land. And those farms we were supposed to go and plough. Now we are empty handed.

However, the Modjadji Royal Council decided that jobs and lease payments should be shared equally among all three villages.

What needs to happen next

Overall, the project could boost the local economy and support renewable energy development. But it also shows that more needs to be done to protect land rights and help affected communities benefit more equally.

Most of the people we interviewed were positive about the effects that this investment was having on their area. But there were those who felt they'd been betrayed or robbed and that their land had been stolen. To address this, in future projects, traditional and state authorities must work together to implement and improve justice in local community decision-making.

Our recommendations are practical. Community votes should be by secret ballot instead of a show of hands, where votes are not confidential. Women should have separate consultation meetings so they can speak freely because culturally, women are less likely to speak openly in a public setting. Commitments made to communities should be in writing to avoid misunderstandings or trust breakdowns.

Government approval processes should be faster so projects are not delayed by bureaucracy. Community trust accounts should be shared regularly with community leaders so everyone can see how the money is being managed. And every new renewable energy project should include skills training so local people are better placed to benefit from future jobs.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

By Helena Hastie, Lecturer in Geography, University of Exeter And

Adedayo Adeleke, Senior Lecturer: Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, South Africa, University of Pretoria And

Damien Mansell, Associate Professor of Geographical Information Science, University of Exeter And

Simon Hull, Associate professor, University of Cape Town