Umoyilanga hybrid power project

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The project comprises the development of Umoyilanga virtual power plant, combining generation from two sites, which are 900 km apart - Avondale in the Northern Cape, with 115 MW of solar PV and 30 MW of battery storage, and Dassiesridge in the Eastern Cape, with 63 MW of wind and 45 MW of battery storage. The plant is planned to provide 75MW on demand from 05:00 to 21:30 as per the requirements of the PPA, to the national grid of South Africa. The sponsors are EDF Renewables and Perpetua Holding in consortium, each investing 50% of the cost. The project reached financial close on November 28, 2023, concluding financing agreements with Nedbank, RMB and DBSA, as in the same time reached commercial Close with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. This follows the legal closure with the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Eskom, and the Implementation Agreement (IA) with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on 30 August 2023. The investment amount is known to be $91.86m (equal to R1721.64, estimated as R1.8 billion in some sources). The consortium won the Umoyilanga project in a bid in the frame of the South African Government’s Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), in March 2021. Commercial Operations Date is planned for May 2025. The plant is planned to use batteries at Dassiesridge, which generally charge from the wind energy at night, discharging power in the morning until the sun rises. The solar installation at Avondale will supply the bulk of the energy during the day, supplemented by wind energy from Dassiesridge. Excess solar energy will be used to charge the batteries at Avondale, which will discharge after sunset. A sophisticated energy management system will give instructions to assets across both sites to optimize the power supply in real time, depending on weather forecasts and Eskom’s grid requirements. The low-carbon electricity produced, will help to meet the electricity needs of 120 000 households for 20 years, based on the Eskom residential consumption average of 3 319 kWh/household. The project has committed to providing around 890 job year opportunities for local South African citizens (measured in job years) during the construction period across Dassiesridge and Avondale. Furthermore, the project has committed to contributing more than 40% of the capital expenditure to local content (procurement of South African goods and services). Over the 20-year operational period, 1% of revenue will be dedicated to local communities through socio-economic initiatives. https://edf-re.co.za/edf-renewables-achieves-commercial-and-financial-close-on-rmipppp-hybrid-power-project-umoyilanga/ https://www.dbsa.org/article/hybrid-project-mitigate-energy-supply-south-africa https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/75-mw-umoyilanga-hybrid-project-reaches-financial-close-under-much-delayed-risk-mitigation-round-2023-11-30 https://www.tips.org.za/images/TIPS_FDI_Tracker_-_Q1_2021.pdf https://www.ipp-rm.co.za/