Electricity trader Discovery Green has signed a power purchase agreement with Red Rocket that unlocks the second phase of the independent power producer’s (IPP’s) 150 MW Overberg Wind Farm, located 12 km west of Swellendam in the Western Cape. The offtake agreement is the first to be concluded by Discovery Green, which is part of the larger JSE-listed Discovery Group.
Independent power producers (IPPs) Mulilo and Scatec have been named as preferred bidders to develop 616 MW/2 464 MWh of new battery storage capacity at a cost of R9.5-billion across five substation sites in the Free State province. Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa made the announcement following the conclusion of the third bid window of South Africa’s Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, which was launched on March 28 last year.
As the world shifts towards a low-carbon future in response to unrelenting climate change, demand is surging for minerals essential to this transition, many of which are found in abundance across Africa, which boasts an estimated one-third of the reserves. But growing attention is turning to a critical question: Can the continent turn this natural wealth into a lever for its own development, while securing its place as a key supplier to global markets? In an analytical note, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that the continent stands to generate cumulative revenue of about $2-trillion from the four main critical minerals – copper, critical for electrification; nickel, key for battery cathodes and stainless steel; and lithium and cobalt, both critical for battery manufacturing – over the next 25 years.