Natural gas and helium producer Renergen says it has won the latest battle against the construction of Sola’s Springbok Solar Power Plant near its Tetra4 operations in the Free State.
Speaking to Business Day on Monday, Sola MD Katherine Persson said the group views the latest decision as balancing the scales after it won two previous battles against Renergen.
Persson said the situation now looks good for the parties to consult and find a conclusion to the issue, rather than a definitive win or loss.
The conflict began when Sola began building the solar plant on land where Renergen’s Tetra4’s has a petroleum production right.
Renergen has argued that development of the solar project went against the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, which requires developers to obtain consent from existing mineral right holders before proceeding with non-agricultural projects.
Last week the department of mineral & petroleum resources ruled in favour of Tetra4, revoking the approval granted to Springbok to build the park. The department said there were procedural defects in Sola’s approval process, particularly with respect to its failure to consult Tetra4 as required by its regulations.
Sola now has 30 days to come to some sort of agreement with Tetra4 before the department will reconsider the permit.
“Sola has already begun engaging with Tetra4 and both parties are planning to continue discussions this week,” said Persson.
The plant, in Virginia in the Free State, is in advanced stages of construction and, according to Sola, is expected to connect to the grid in the third quarter of 2025.
In late October, Sola said the area designated for its facility was not highlighted for gas or mineral production activities in any of Renergen’s existing publicly available prospecting or production plans or permit applications.
The company previously said despite Renergen being consulted many times from April 2022, including in-person meetings, it did not express objections until several months into construction.
The land where the Springbok Solar Power Plant sits is a small portion of Tetra4's overall rights area and Tetra4 has confirmed that the area is not immediately planned for exploration.
Previously, Renergen CEO Stefano Marani emphasised the potential risk to SA’s mining industry if mineral and petroleum rights are disregarded in favour of new developments.
“If departments condone construction without obtaining consent from existing mineral and petroleum right holders, it could lead to a scenario where all rights are subordinated to developments on mining or production areas.”
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