SolarAfrica has secured R1.8 billion in funding, as it moves towards development of SunCentral, its flagship utility-scale solar project.
The announcement comes as power utility Eskom implemented stage six load-shedding over the weekend, before reducing it to stage four as of this morning.
According to a statement, SolarAfrica reached financial close on the first 114MW component of the project alongside funding partners Investec and RMB.
SolarAfrica chief investment officer Charl Alheit says: “Reaching financial close on the first 114MW of our utility-scale wheeling development and main transmission substation (MTS) investment marks a milestone in our commitment to advancing sustainable energy solutions for our customers in the commercial and industrial sectors.”
SunCentral is a large-scale solar photovoltaic plant located between Hanover and De Aar in the Northern Cape. The project will be developed in three phases.
Phase one, consisting of 342MW, will be delivered through a staged roll-out of three 114MW facilities and will deliver renewable energy to off-takers by wheeling it through SA’s power grid. Phase two and three will increase SunCentral’s capacity to 1GW.
The project will offer wheeling on a one-to-many basis, making it available to a wider pool of businesses in the country, notes the statement.
Wheeling of electricity is a common practice globally, and Eskom has approved third-party wheeling since 2008 for the physical export of energy onto the national grid by an independent power producer, and this facilitates open network access.
It allows privately-generated power to be transmitted across the national grid to customers that need it, in a willing buyer/willing seller model, according to Eskom. Vodacom and Discovery Group, as well as the City of Cape Town, have introduced electricity wheeling projects, to help businesses circumvent load-shedding.
SolarAfrica is part of the greater Starsight Energy Africa Group. It is backed by investors African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) and Helios Investment Partners.
“The construction of SolarAfrica’s SunCentral is a critical step in our journey to expand clean energy adoption across Sub-Saharan Africa,” comments Paul van Zijl, group CEO of Starsight Energy Africa Group. “We are excited to move this project forward and continue delivering long-term value to our customers.”
Thor Corry, investment director at AIIM, notes: “The modular approach to construct the MTS and plug in subsequent 114MW modules provides a superb platform for SolarAfrica to scale at pace to meet the needs of the C&I [commercial and industrial] customers in South Africa who want to secure price certainty and cost-efficiencies, while furthering South Africa’s Just Energy Transition.
“With South Africa requiring up to 30GW of new capacity by 2030 to meet its climate commitments and energy needs, projects like this are crucial.”
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