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Project finance clinched for 520 MW South African wind, solar projects – Anglo
Johannesburg- and London-listed diversified mining and marketing company Anglo American has announced 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.
Anglo Africa and Australia regional director Themba Mkhwanazi described the successful project financing of these initial projects as Anglo’s first major step towards addressing the largest remaining source of its Scope 2 emissions – its electricity supply in Southern Africa.
As Anglo makes progress towards its 2040 carbon-neutral operations commitment, it also sees the opportunity to enhance energy reliability and grid resilience in South Africa.
“We expect that energy availability to help catalyse extensive socioeconomic activity, playing a critical role in unlocking South Africa’s economic development and growth prospects,” Mkhwanazi added in a release to Engineering News & Mining Weekly.
The projects – the Umsobomvu wind project (140 MW), the Hartebeesthoek wind project (140 MW), and the Mooi Plaats solar project (240 MW) – form part of Envusa’s mature pipeline of wind and solar projects in South Africa.
The renewable energy ecosystem that Envusa plans to develop is expected to supply a mix of renewable energy, generated both on Anglo’s sites in the Southern African region, and from other sites from which renewable energy will be transmitted through the national grid.
The Koruson 2 wind and solar projects benefit from outstanding yield resources, coupled with a robust Eskom grid connection. This configuration promises considerable electricity cost savings compared to existing tariffs.
Anglo’s three businesses in South Africa – Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Kumba Iron Oreand De Beers – have committed to 20-year offtake agreements with Envusa.
These agreements will see Amplats receiving 461 MW of supply, Kolomela mine 11 MW, and Venetia mine 48 MW. All projects are to reach commercial operation during 2026. This inaugural phase of contracts is expected to abate about 2.2-million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
Anglo management board chairperson in South Africa Nolitha Fakude, who also chairs Envusa, expressed delight with the progress made in setting up Envusa as a major longterm renewables powerhouse in South Africa.
Achieving financial close for these three high-quality renewable energy projects marks, Fakude said, a crucial milestone in support of Anglo’s global decarbonisation journey and bolsters South Africa’s pursuit of a resilient and clean energy future.
EDF Renewables CEO in South Africa Tristan de Drouas highlighted as “immensely rewarding” the collaboration with Anglo to implement EDF’s extensive global expertise in renewable energy infrastructure development, design and delivery.
“The financial close of this initial cluster of projects is the first step towards Envusa’s ambition to roll out 3 GW to 5 GW of wind, solar and storage projects by 2030,” De Drouas noted.
These collective initiatives align seamlessly with EDF Group’s CAP 2030 strategy, which is ambitiously focused on doubling its net renewable installed energy capacity globally, including in hydropower, from 28 GW in 2015 to 60 GW by 2030, a significant environmental plus.