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JUWI Renewable Energies has announced that the combined capacity of its orderbook for power projects to supply mines in South Africa has reached 400MW. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts are at advanced stages of development.

The news follows the recent financial close of the 89MW Castle Wind project by the African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) consortium, which will supply Sibanye-Stillwater’s mining operations. The project was initially developed by JUWI for the South African government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers’ Programme (REI4P), before the German company sold it to the consortium.

“We’re seeing a wave of formal requests for renewable energy projects from South African mines, largely driven by the energy crisis, commercial considerations and decarbonisation targets. The right regulation has been needed to translate this demand into actual projects for mines," said Richard Doyle, managing director, JUWI SA. 

"The amendments to the licence-exemption threshold and [the] ability to wheel electricity are now allowing us to pivot projects initially developed for REI4P, such as the Castle Wind project, into the private sector, making them a reality. This is a significant milestone for our team of experts.”

With most major mines and energy users in South Africa lacking land for large-scale wind and solar projects, the ability to wheel electricity is essential for self-generation to become feasible.

“The ability to wheel power through the network, combined with the far lower electricity tariffs of solar and wind projects, incentivises mines to either remotely generate their electricity or purchase it from remote independent power producers (IPPs), thereby sourcing generation from sites where the resource is stronger," said Chris Bellingham, head of project development, JUWI.

"This is a real win for mines, allowing them to save costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and when used in combination with backup technologies, avoid load shedding.”

JUWI says it recently signed an EPC agreement with Pan African Resources to construct an 8.75MW solar plant to supply its Fairview Mine in South Africa. It previously built the company's 10MW photovoltaic plant at Evander.

At the start of 2023, JUWI had 4GW of renewable energy projects under development in Africa, with a further 1GW due to begin construction.

Photo: Wind farm (© Kiattisak Wannasri | Dreamstime)