Envusa Energy completes wind and solar projects in South Africa
Anglo American announces that its 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 520MW of wind and solar electricity generation.
Themba Mkhwanazi, Anglo American’s Regional Director for Africa and Australia, said: “The successful project financing of these initial projects marks our first major step towards addressing Anglo American’s largest remaining source of Scope 2 emissions – our 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 South Africa. We expect that energy availability to help catalyse extensive socio-economic activity, playing a critical role in unlocking South Africa’s economic development and growth prospects.”
The projects – the Umsobomvu Wind project (140MW), the Hartebeesthoek Wind project (140MW), and the Mooi Plaats Solar project (240MW) – form part of Envusa Energy’s mature pipeline of wind and solar projects in South Africa. The renewable energy ecosystem that Envusa Energy plans to develop is expected to supply a mix of renewable energy, generated both on Anglo American’s sites in the Southern African region, and from other sites from which renewable energy will be transmitted via 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 American’s three businesses in South Africa (Anglo American Platinum, Kumba Iron Ore, and De Beers), have committed to 20-year offtake agreements with Envusa Energy. These agreements will see Anglo American Platinum receiving 461MW of supply, Kolomela mine 11MW, and Venetia mine 48MW. All projects are to reach commercial operation during 2026. This inaugural phase of contracts is expected to abate approximately 1.5 million tonnes per year of carbon dioxide.
