Energize RE 4: Renewable Energy Supplement - March 2016 – Page 17

Industry News

Consortium wins award for best wind dealA consortium led by Mainstream Renewable Power has received the award for Best Wind Deal, Middle East and Africa at the annual Project Finance International (PFI) awards dinner held at the Hilton, Park Lane in London. Considered to be the most prestigious event in the global project finance calendar, over 800 of the world’s most senior and successful market professionals gathered to celebrate industry excellence. The consortium received the accolade for 360 MW of wind projects it won under Window 3 of the South African government’s highly successful Renewable Energy Procurement Programme (REI4P). The three wind farms, which are located in South Africa’s Northern Cape and represent a combined investment of $760-million, reached financial close in early 2015 and are currently in construction with the first completed plant due to start commercial operation in July 2016. Mainstream has been awarded more megawatts than any other developer under the REI4P. Between Windows 1 and 4 it has been awarded eight projects with a combined capacity of nearly 850 MW, most recently the 140 MW Kangnas wind farm (Northern Cape) and 110 MW Perdekraal wind farm (Western Cape) in Window 4, which are expected to reach financial close later this year.

Contact Jeffrey Onganga, FTI Consulting, Tel 021 487-9025, jeffrey.onganga@fticonsulting.com

Cabinet approves Renewable Energy Development ZonesCabinet has approved the gazetting of eight Renewable Energy Development Zones (REDZ) and five power corridors, which will assist South Africa with its electricity challenges.

REDZs and power corridors are geographical areas where wind and solar photovoltaic technologies can be incentivised and where deep grid expansion can be directed and where regulatory processes will be streamlined. The REDZs act as energy generation hubs and provide anchor points for grid expansion, thereby allowing for strategic and proactive expansion of grid into these areas. This will ensure that the grid expansion does not hamper the progress of the renewable energy power purchase agreement process.

According to the Department of Environmental Affairs, the REDZs and power corridors support two of the 18 Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) that were identified in the Infrastructure Development Plan, which is aimed at promoting catalytic infrastructure development to stimulate economic growth and job creation. The department has embarked on a programme of strategic environmental assessments (SEAs) for large-scale developments to support the SIPs. This will ensure that when required, environmental authorisations are not a cause for delay.

According to the department, the intention of undertaking strategic environmental assessments is to pre-assess environmental sensitivities within the proposed development areas at a regional scale to simplify the site specific environmental impact assessments (EIA) when they are undertaken, and to focus the assessment requirements to addressing the specific sensitivity of the site.

The REDZs and power corridors were identified through the development of three SEAs as part of the department’s Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. According to the department, the outputs of the three SEAs must now be gazetted to allow them to be implemented.

Contact Albi Modise, Department of Environmental Affairs, Tel 012 399-9943, amodise@environment.gov.za

South African solar power plant wins PFI solar deal of the yearThe government's REI4P is rapidly contributing to South Africa's growth as one of the fastest growing renewable energy sectors in the world. According to Hartmut Winkler, Professor of Physics at the University of Johannesburg, the programme has contributed to over 6000 MW to date. It is envisioned that this figure should reach 9600 MW of solar power capacity by 2030. All completed solar power plants form part of South Africa's electricity supply and are fully linked to the Eskom power grid. The Ilanga 1 CSP Project recently won the 2015 Project Finance International (PFI) solar deal of the year. The award ceremony took place on 3 February 2016 in London. The plant is located about 30 kilometres east of Upington and forms part of the Karoshoek Solar Thermal Park. Ilanga 1 is a 100 MW parabolic trough plant with a thermal energy storage system. Apart from the significant job-creating opportunities, the project promises to deliver over half a billion Rand annually to socio-economic development over a 20 year period. The project was funded Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Public Investment Company, the Industrial Development Corporation, Nedbank, Investec, Standard Bank and ABSA.

Contact Louise Crouch, Epic MSL Group, Tel 011 784-4790, louise.crouch@epicmslgroup.com