Envusa Energy, a renewable energy venture that is jointly owned by diversified mining group Anglo American and EDF Renewables has completed project finance for 520MW of wind and solar projects in SA.
Anglo American’s businesses in SA, Anglo American Platinum, Kumba Iron Ore and De Beers, will receive 461MW supply from these projects on the basis of a 20-year offtake agreement with Envusa Energy.
The three projects, the Umsobomvu Wind project (140MW), the Hartebeesthoek Wind project (140MW), and the Mooi Plaats Solar project (240MW), are expected to come online in 2026.
The projects, based in the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape, will transmit energy via Eskom’s national grid.
“The financial close of this initial cluster of projects is the first step towards Envusa Energy’s ambition to roll out 3GW-5GW of wind, solar and storage projects by 2030,” the CEO of EDF Renewables in SA, Tristan de Drouas, said in a statement.
Anglo American’s regional director for Africa and Australia, Themba Mkhwanazi, said energy procured through these initial projects marked a major step towards addressing the group’s largest remaining source of Scope 2 emissions — their electricity supply in Southern Africa.
“As we make progress towards our 2040 carbon neutral operations commitment, we also see the opportunity to enhance energy reliability and grid resilience in SA,” said Mkhwanazi.
The offtake agreement will also yield “considerable” electricity cost savings for the companies compared to existing Eskom tariffs.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.