Kathu Solar Plant

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Renewable Energy Investments of South Africa (Pty) Ltd was created to build, own and operate renewable energy facilities, such as the 81 MW Kathu solar PV project to be located in Kathu, northern Cape, South Africa. The developer was a south African based investment vehicle aimed specifically at RE investments. Lokian Trading & Investments (Pty) Limited was reported as the official bidder. The project was expected to generate 193 GWh annually. Italian renewable energy developer Building Energy was reported by the CDM document as the developer behind the project, but no further reports could be identified. The project was awarded in a tender administered by the Department of Energy where a critical factor in the decision was the projected price of power. Contractual negotiations on the PPA and financing were to be completed by June 2012. The tender was open to all technologies, 53 bids were submitted of which 28 made it to preferred bidder status. These 28 project account for a total of 1,416MW if all are implemented. The EIA was passed (as was required for all bidders). Under bid rules, the project had to have at least 35% local content. There would be a 20 year PPA with the state owned utility, Eskom. The developer expected that the project may be expanded in phases of 150MW to a total of 600MW. Construction was expected to start in July 2012. EIA was completed in September 2011, executed by Savannah Environmental (Pty) Ltd (SE). Total project cost was estimated at ZAR 2.4 Billion (USD 250 million), with commissioning expected in early 2014. The project applied for UNFCCC CDM financing. O&M costs were estimated at 0.24 million ZAR/kWh. Project IRR before tax, without CERs was estimated at -3.4%. The project reached financial close in November 2012. The total project cost was USD 396 million. Equity injected totaled 112 million, including a 42 million sub-debt portion. RMB Bank provided significant financing http://cdm.unfccc.int/filestorage/4/Z/I/4ZIPGJQDUREC3FXWM7B1NA0K6OTVL9/PDD%20Kathu.pdf?t=OXZ8bTNleXJofDCqs58EKslievKIGA6adK9e