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New renewables venture to launch 600 MW of wind and solar projects in South Africa
12/10/2022
News
Anglo American and EDF Renewables have formed a new joint venture, Envusa Energy, that aims to develop a ‘regional renewable energy ecosystem (RREE) in South Africa, beginning with the launch of 600 MW of wind and solar projects.
The joint venture will catalyse economic activity in South Africa’s renewable energy sector and support the country’s broader just energy transition, while also improving the resilience of domestic electricity supply systems, say the partners.
As part of the agreement, Envusa Energy is launching a mature pipeline of more than 600 MW of wind and solar projects in South Africa – a major first step towards the development of an ecosystem that is expected to generate 3–5 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
This first phase of renewables projects is expected to be fully funded – including by attracting debt financing that is typical for high quality energy infrastructure projects – and ready for construction to begin in 2023, state the companies.
Commenting on the new venture, Nolitha Fakude, Chair of Anglo American’s Management Board in South Africa, says: ‘This is a significant milestone in [our] global decarbonisation journey and another step forwards for South Africa’s clean energy future. We are making great strides towards our 2040 target of carbon neutral operations, while contributing to South Africa’s just energy transition… [which] we believe presents a fresh opportunity for [the country] and the rest of the region to build a clean and inclusive energy ecosystem that can create significant new economic opportunities.’
Tristan de Drouas, CEO at EDF Renewables in South Africa, adds: ‘We are very pleased to be part of this very innovative venture… This 600 MW first tranche of projects will be added to the almost 1 GW that EDF Renewables will be building or operating in the country by 2023 – including 420 MW of wind projects in the REIPPP [Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme] Bid Window 5, whose PPAs [power purchase agreements] were signed with Eskom and the DMRE on 22 September 2022. Together, these projects further EDF Group’s 2030 strategy that aims to double our net renewable installed energy capacity worldwide (hydropower included) from 28 GW in 2015 to 60 GW by 2030.’
The roll-out of the RREE will also serve as a clean energy source for the production of green hydrogen for Anglo American’s nuGen™ Zero Emission Haulage Solution (ZEHS) – a planned fleet of hydrogen-powered ultra-class mine haul trucks – significantly reducing on-site diesel emissions towards a carbon neutral future while also supporting the development of South Africa’s ‘Hydrogen Valley’, say the companies.
