Anglo American has partnered with EDF Renewables to form a jointly owned company, Envusa Energy, to develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem (RREE) in South Africa.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding last March to explore the ecosystem's development, designed to meet Anglo American's operational power requirements in South Africa and support the resilience of the local electricity supply systems and the wider decarbonisation of energy in the country.
The RREE is also expected to catalyse economic activity in South Africa's renewable energy sector, supporting the country's broader just energy transition.
“This is a significant milestone in Anglo American's global decarbonisation journey and another step forwards for South Africa's clean energy future,” said Nolitha Fakude the chairperson of Anglo American's management board in South Africa.
“We are making great strides towards our 2040 target of carbon neutral operations while contributing to South Africa's just energy transition through our responsible approach.”
She said the group believe that the energy transition presents a fresh opportunity for South Africa and the rest of the region to build a clean and inclusive energy ecosystem that can create significant new economic opportunities.
Envusa Energy will launch a mature pipeline of more than 600 MW of wind and solar projects in South Africa - a major first step towards the development of an ecosystem that is expected to generate 3-5 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
This first phase of Envusa Energy's renewables projects is expected to be fully funded - including by attracting debt financing that is typical for high-quality energy infrastructure projects - and ready for construction to begin in 2023.
Envusa Energy is expected to supply Anglo American with a blend of renewable energy generated on Anglo American's sites and renewable energy transmitted via the national grid.
This energy portfolio approach will aggregate energy from geographically dispersed renewable generating assets and allocate this energy optimally to meet the load demand for Anglo American's sites.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
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