Johannesburg- and London-listed diversified mining and marketing company Anglo American announced on Thursday that jointly owned renewable energy venture with EDF Renewables, Envusa Energy, has completed the project financing for its first three wind and solar projects in South Africa. The terms and structure of this non-recourse project financing are typical of high-quality renewable energy infrastructure assets. These three renewable energy projects, known as the Koruson 2 cluster of projects and located on the border of the Northern and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa, will have a total capacity of 520 MW of wind and solar electricity generation.
Platinum group metals (PGMs) miner Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has, through its wholly owned Rustenburg Platinum Mines (RPM) subsidiary, entered into a 20-year energy offtake agreement (EOA) with Envusa Energy. Envusa is a joint venture between EDF Renewables and Amplats’ parent company Anglo American with a focus on establishing a regional renewable energy ecosystem (RREE) in Southern Africa.
The 11 political parties that are members of the Multi-Party Charter (MPC) for South Africa have voiced a unified plan to end loadshedding once and for all if only they could collectively oust ruling party the African National Congress (ANC) at the upcoming national elections on May 29. The MPC is comprised of the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus), ActionSA, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), the Independent South African National Civic Organisation (Isanco), the United Independent Movement (UIM), the Spectrum National Party (SNP), Ekhethu People’s Party (EPP), the Unemployed National Party (UNP) and the United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP).
South Africa’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges are not in a good state, Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA) CEO Mpho Mookapele has said. “Our TVETs are actually supposed to be producing skills for industry, because this is where you get practical training and links to industry. But most of our TVETS aren’t even linked to industry,” she said during a media briefing, in Johannesburg, on February 27.
Finalising funding solutions for the expedited expansion of South Africa’s electricity transmission grid has been identified as a key priority for the Just Energy Transition (JET) project management unit (PMU), which is located within the Presidency. The unit is overseeing the implementation of the country’s JET Investment Plan (JET-IP), which was approved in 2022 with the goal of stimulating R1.5-trillion (about $80-bilion) in clean electricity, new energy vehicles and green-hydrogen investments, while also supporting workers and communities whose lives and livelihoods will be made vulnerable by the transition.
Energy and chemicals group Sasol has moved to address investor concerns that its yearly production at Secunda will need to fall to only 6.7-million tons for it to meet its goal of reducing the carbon-heavy Mpumalanga complex’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030. Delivering his final results presentation, outgoing CEO Fleetwood Grobler insisted that the 6.7-million tons output profile announced in August represented the “low road” production scenario that emerged following a review of its emission roadmap once the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was eliminated as a plausible feedstock for Secunda.
Renewable energy company Enel Green Power South Africa has signed three long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with industrial gases company Air Liquide South Africa and energy and chemicals company Sasol to supply 330 MW of renewable energy to Sasol’s Secunda site, where Air Liquide operates its large-scale oxygen production facility. Enel Green Power and sovereign wealth fund the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) jointly own Enel Green Power South Africa.
The City of Cape Town says businesses and households have earned more than R25.8-million under the city’s Cash for Power programme since the start of the 2022/23 financial year. This comes after the city started to buy excess solar photovoltaic power from small-scale generators in exchange for municipal bill credits and cash.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says all the work being done by government on the financial structure to facilitate private investment into the country’s transmission infrastructure is being consolidated under his Ministry, including the work being done on the issue by the National Treasury and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). This confirmation follows an announcement in the National Treasury’s Budget Review that a request for proposals will be released by the end of July for a pilot project involving “off-balance-sheet financing to accelerate private-sector investment in transmission, without negatively affecting Eskom’s balance sheet and the fiscus”.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) reports that a further 124 generation facilities were registered during the third quarter of its financial year from October to December, increasing the number of facilities registered since 2018 to 1 087. The newly registered generators have a combined capacity of 605 MW and a collective investment value of R7.8-billion.
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