Scaling clean energy for South Africa’s industries
Terra Firma designs and builds large-scale clean energy systems for commercial and industrial customers, from rooftop solar PV to ground-mount plants, battery storage (BESS) and seamless integration with generators and the national grid.
With projects ranging from 1MW to 50MW, Terra Firma plays a key role in South Africa’s renewable energy future. But as their projects grew more complex, so did the demands on their backend systems.
“As we expanded from rooftops to ground-mount installations and battery storage, our backend infrastructure had to scale too,” says Xavier Balayer, who’s led Terra Firma’s technical operations for 13 years.
The team needed a flexible, cost-effective solution to monitor solar production, track industrial energy use, and manage growing data loads. They wanted to avoid overspending on underused servers or facing surprise cloud bills.
A strategic move to cloud, local-first
Working with Nkululeko Radebe, DevOps and Infrastructure Engineer, Terra Firma adopted a hybrid approach using reliable traditional servers alongside flexible cloud infrastructure. “We’re moving to cloud to avoid paying for pre-provisioned storage that we don’t always use,” explains Nkululeko.
How it works:
- Hybrid infrastructure: Core databases and legacy apps run on xneelo Self-Managed Servers
- Cloud-first development: Three xneelo Cloud instances run UAT Kubernetes clusters for development
- Container orchestration: Kubernetes manages containers on both traditional servers and cloud instances
- Enhanced security: Security groups protect servers beyond public exposure
Why they chose xneelo Cloud
Terra Firma evaluated major global cloud providers before choosing xneelo Cloud:
Hyperscalers:
- Managed Kubernetes tested but costs were prohibitive
- Data transfer fees were unpredictable
- Required external consultants due to expertise gaps
Enterprise Cloud:
- Considered for ecosystem integrations, but ultimately more than they needed
“Xneelo’s pricing eliminates surprise bills unlike other providers where moving data can rack up costs fast. We avoid vendor lock-in and hidden fees for external traffic.”
Business impact
The migration to xneelo Cloud delivered measurable improvements across operations, security and cost management:
- Accelerated testing cycles with dedicated UAT environments
- Improved security by replacing exposed servers with security groups
- Scalable resources, paying only for what’s used
- A 12-year partnership with trusted local expertise and support
Support that’s close to home
“There’s real value in working with a South African provider who knows the local landscape and keeps costs transparent.”
The Terra Firma team relies on:
- 24/7 local chat support
- Quick response times for technical queries
- Long-term trust in xneelo’s service quality
“The interface is intuitive, easy to navigate and does exactly what we need,” Xavier says. The cost estimator alone saves time and surprises.
Advice for other businesses
Terra Firma’s long partnership with xneelo shows how the right local partner can help growing businesses scale without surprise costs.
“I’d recommend xneelo Cloud for teams that don’t rely heavily on hyperscaler-specific tools. It’s perfect for open-source development and gives you full control over your infrastructure without the lock-in.”
Key considerations:
- Cost predictability: Pay-as-you-go pricing model eliminates billing surprises
- Technical flexibility: Full infrastructure access without vendor lock-in
- Future migration: Good infrastructure design allows future migration if needed
By adopting xneelo Cloud for development and testing, they’ve sped up releases, strengthened security, and kept control of costs, all while building South Africa’s clean energy future.
