Independent Power Producer Mulilo to Add 385 Megawatts to South Africa's Renewables Program

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Although South Africa's independent power producer (IPP) renewable energy program is experiencing problems with grid access connections, it is still growing a pipeline of new projects, covering all sources of renewable power. One of the young companies setting the pace is Mulilo Renewable Energy (Cape Town International Airport), which is set to move on four projects in the Northern Cape Province with a combined investment value of about $800 million. The projects together will have a power generation capacity of 385 megawatts (MW).

The projects include 150 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and 235 MW of wind power capacity. The projects were selected in the third bidding round of South Africa's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) and have reached financial close.

The new projects are located near the towns of Prieska and De Aar, where Mulilo already has two solar energy projects completed and feeding into the grid. The 75-MW Prieska PV project will begin construction this month and the 75-MW Mulilo Sonnedix Prieska project will begin in June.

A consortium including Mulilo, Total S.A. (NYSE:TOT) (Paris, France), Calulo Renewable Energy (Johannesburg), the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) (Johannesburg), Futuregrowth Asset Management (Cape Town) and a local community trust. The IDC, Nedbank (OTC:NDBKY) (Johannesburg) and Absa Bank (OTC:AGRAY) (Johannesburg) are funding debt.

SunPower's (NASDAQ:SPWR) (Richmond, California) monocrystalline modules, mounted on a single-axis tracking system, will be used and SunPower Energy System will assemble the solar modules at its Cape Town factory.

Locally assembled polysilicon modules, mounted on fixed frames, will be used in the Sonnedix project.

The two wind projects, with capacities of 139 MW and 96 MW, will be sited north and southwest of De Ar and will be constructed by Longyuan Engineering South Africa (Beijing, China) and debt funded by Nedbank and the IDC.

In another independent power producer move, Mulilo has executed a heads-of- agreement with Botswana's Shumba Coal Limited (Gaborone) for the joint development of the Mabesekwa Export Independent Power Plant (MEIPP) at the site of the Mabesekwa coal project. The 300/400-MW plant will supply power to South Africa's base load program. The power plant will have a captive coal mine. Shumba is also looking at other coal-fired projects in the 400 MW and above range.

For related information, see December 3, 2014, article - Bidding Delayed for South African Independent Power Projects.

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