Puma Energy has bought a 49 percent stake in MBHE Group, a company that provides renewable energy solutions to customers across southern Africa. Furthermore, key growth opportunities across southern Africa include the installation of solar PV, Battery Energy Storage solutions and off-grid solar PV plants.
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A consortium of Mulilo, a South African independent power producer majority owned by CIP through its Growth Markets Fund I (CI GMF I), and EDF has been finalised as preferred bidder for three battery energy storage projects. A total of five projects were awarded under South Africa’s first Battery Energy Storage Procurement Programme by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.
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Scatec ASA has started producing and supplying electricity to the national grid from the three Kenhardt plants in the Northern Cape Province, in South Africa. The Kenhardt project is a hybrid solar and battery storage facility. Reportedly, the company invested $1 billion in the project.
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The World Bank has sanctioned a development policy loan worth $1 billion with the aim of bolstering South Africa’s energy sector, advancing its low-carbon transition, and supporting the ongoing electricity market reforms in the country. The funding, structured as a development policy loan, will be channelled to the National Treasury.
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Phelan Green Energy, an independent solar power producer, has revealed its motive to invest ZAR 47 billion to construct a green hydrogen and ammonia production facility in the Western Cape region ofSouth Africa. The company will build the facility through its subsidiary Solar Capital and anticipates making over ZAR 6 billion in income from exporting the green fuel each year.
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ABO Wind AG, a German renewables developer has announced that it has divested the rights to a 100 MW solar power project in South Africa which is the last portion of a bigger cluster in the country’s North-West region. The value of the transaction and the name of the buyer have not been revealed. The 100 MW solar park will be built on 450 acres of privately owned property and operated under a PPA that the project’s new proprietor has signed with an unidentified off-taker.
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South Africa has signed project agreements with additional two preferred bidders appointed under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), in Pretoria for two hybrid projects. Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy has finalised an agreement of 203 MW with bidders. The projects consist of a combination of battery storage technologies, solar PV and onshore wind.
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The National Treasury of South Africa has introduced a loan guarantee scheme – the ‘Energy Bounce Back’ to support commercial and industrial (C&I) solar projects. The scheme has an objective of setting up 1 GW of rooftop PV capacity. It also attempts to help micro and informal companies to be more resilient to loadshedding.
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Engie and Meridiam, two French companies, have reached an agreement with Actis to acquire BTE Renewables, a South Africa-based company that develops renewable energy, for $1 billion. Actis developed the renewables platform in 2017 after acquiring the Kipeto wind project in Kenya during its development stage. In 2019, it expanded the platform with the purchase of BioTherm Energy, a South Africa-focused company, and rebranded it as BTE Renewables.
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South Africa will continue to maintain strong growth potential for renewables, although we highlight rising material costs for wind turbines might have a negative influence on timely completion of wind projects. Over the next decade, we expect to see growth in investment and uptake of energy storage projects in the market, especially battery storage. Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) will boost the network during peak hours, reducing network strain.
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Vestas, a Danish wind turbine manufacturer, has received a 373 MW wind turbine contract from Red Rocket, a South African independent power producer. The company will provide five V162-6.2MW Enventus turbines, 12 V163-4.5MW turbines, and 64 V150-4.5MW wind turbines. The turbines will be installed at the Brandvalley, Rietkloof and Wolf wind parks, which are located in South Africa’s Western and Eastern Capes. Vestas intends to deliver and commission the wind turbines by 2024.
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Sasol and Air Liquide Big Industries in South Africa have signed 260 MW corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) with French energy company TotalEnergies. The company will produce renewable energy from a 140 MW wind farm and a 120 MW solar plant that it will build in the Northern Cape province. The Secunda site of Sasol will receive 850 GWh of clean energy per year from these projects.
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Seriti Resources’ green energy unit subsidiary proposes to build a wind farm in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Seriti Resources has agreed to purchase power from the farm on a long-term basis. Seriti Green will construct the 155 MW facility. With an estimated $235 million in investment, this project is expected to become the largest wind farm in the country.
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Enel Green Power (EGP), a subsidiary of the Italian energy firm Enel Group, has signed 220 MW power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Air Liquide and Sasol in South Africa. The largest oxygen production facility in the world, operated by Air Liquide at Sasol’s Secunda location, will begin receiving renewable energy from EGP in 2025. The renewable energy will be supplied by EGP’s two wind farms in the Eastern Cape, which can generate more than 800 GWh of clean energy annually when combined.
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CSI Solar, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar, has won a 256 MW solar module supply contract from Sola Group, a South African independent power producer. Two utility-scale solar power projects based on private power purchase agreements will get the solar modules in South Africa.
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Sola Group, a Cape Town-based renewables developer, received authorisation from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to build two 100 MW solar power plants in South Africa’s North West region in May 2022. The corporate power purchase agreement was signed in March 2022 with Tronox, a US-based supplier of titanium products.
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In February this year, the South African Hydrogen Society Roadmap (HSRM) was published by the South African government. As the country navigates its energy transition, the Roadmap is considered to be an important marker on its path towards implementing hydrogen development, which is envisaged to be at the centre of South Africa’s strategy for economic growth and mitigating climate change.
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In this paper, the authors advance a ‘mission-oriented’ approach to reconceptualize energy megaprojects within a systemic, cross-sectoral, and challenge-driven policy framework for energy transition. The authors discuss this mission-oriented approach through a deep dive on the South African experience of energy megaprojects with a focus on the restructuring of its public utility, Eskom, as well as opportunities for sustainable industrialization.
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Scatec has reached the financial closing for three renewable energy projects in Northern Cape province in South Africa. The three projects are located in Kenhardt and are expected to have a combined solar capacity of 540 MW and battery storage capacity of 225MW/1,140MWh. After this financial closure, Scatec will begin construction of the projects.
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Through its IDEAS Managed Fund (IDEAS), African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), an infrastructure-focused private equity fund manager, has acquired a majority stake in three solar projects in South Africa. The 30 MW solar portfolio reached financial close in May 2022, with commercial operations scheduled in March and April 2023.
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