Renewable energy firm Enel Green Power RSA has reached a financial close for five wind power projects in South Africa allowing construction work to start in earnest.
Local lenders Nedbank and Absa provided the project financing. The total portfolio will cost €1.2 billion, Enel said, with the Italy-based group contributing €230 million to the investment total.
The five facilities, namely Nxuba, Oyster Bay, Garob, Karusa and Soetwater, have a capacity of around 140 MW each.
Commenting on the financial closure, Antonio Cammisecra, Head of Enel’s Global Renewable Energies Division said that the development confirms their continuing commitment to the country’s renewables sector.
“Enel Green Power will continue to support these processes by generating its emission-free energy in partnership with local shareholders and in cooperation with the local communities, according to our long-term vision of shared value creation.”
The Garob, Karusa and Soetwater projects will be constructed in the Northern Cape province, while the Oyster Bay and the Nxuba wind farms will be built in the Eastern Cape province.
The five wind farms were all awarded in round 4 of the South African government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). Each project is minority-owned by a local partner.
By 2021, all five new wind farms are due to be up-and-running, bringing Enel Green Power’s total installed capacity in the country to more than 1.2 GW. Once operational, the five projects are expected to produce around 2.6 TWh each year, saving the annual emission of roughly 2.7 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Enel Green Power is a global leader in the green energy sector with a managed capacity of around 42 GW across a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower, and is at the forefront of integrating innovative technologies into renewables power plants.
In South Africa, EGP operates more than 520 MW of wind and solar plants.