Engineering and contracting group Murray & Roberts has bagged a R1.2bn contract to build a 100MWp (megawatt peak) solar photovoltaic renewable energy complex for a mining house in the North West.
M&R on Wednesday said it had won the contract through its subsidiary OptiPower Projects, in a joint venture with Spanish energy infrastructure developer Coxabengoa. OptiPower’s share in the joint venture was 50%, it said.
The JSE-listed company highlighted that the scope of work included the construction and installation of free-issue PV modules, trackers, inverters and the procurement, construction and installation of main transformers, and associated infrastructure for substations and overhead power lines. M&R withheld the identity of the mining consortium.
OptiPower offers engineering, procurement and construction solutions for high- and medium-voltage power lines, substations, and electrical balance of plant scopes of work for renewable energy projects. Its joint venture partner, Seville-based Coxabengoa, is an energy infrastructure developer with a presence in 30 countries.
M&R has been recovering from losing its Australian subsidiaries, MRPL, Clough and RUC Cementation Mining Contractors, after which the group became an engineering and contracting services company, focused on the African and Americas underground mining markets, and renewable energy and power infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The company’s mining businesses generate most of its revenue and earnings and are diversified across the northern and southern hemispheres.
For 2023 M&R credited OptiPower's award of contracts in the renewable energy industry for expanding its order book to R1.8bn from R400m in the previous year.
At the halfway stage in March, the firm valued at R1.3bn on the JSE, reported a narrowing of its losses in the six months to end-December, saying its new capital structure and financing arrangements would create a “leaner and more agile group”.
According to the group, almost R9bn in opportunities was available in the wind and solar energy and electricity transmission sectors.
OptiPower was expected to be awarded an Eskom transmission tender in the medium run since Eskom plans to build more than 1,500km of 400kV overhead lines in SA and OptiPower was among a selected group of contractors authorised to construct these overhead wires.
“The group expects that the current focus on increasing investment in utility-scale renewable energy projects will enable the platform to return to profitability in FY2024,” M&R said in its annual results to the end of June.
Last month M&R’s mining contracting division, Cementation Americas, secured a mine-building project for $200m (R3.6bn). This came just months after it signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth $200m with a major South American copper producer in April.
M&R shares were up 1% to R3.04 on Wednesday, having surged 102% since the start of 2024.
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