A 620 MW solar project to be built in South Africa’s Free State has reached financial close. The milestone follows the signing of a more than 20-year multi-offtaker wheeling agreement with commercial and industrial customers.
South African independent power producer Anthem has announced financial closure of its Notsi Solar PV project in the South African Free State.
With a planned capacity of 620 MW (475 MWac), it is billed as the largest solar project in the country to date.
The Notsi project will cover more than 1,000 hectares and have more than 860,000 solar panels. Once operational it will generate approximately 1.5 TWh annually. A statement published by Anthem said it will supply energy via the national grid to the commercial and industrial sectors for more than two decades, via a multi-offtaker wheeling model with financial services provider Discovery Limited and green energy supplier NOA.
“By supplying renewable energy to business and commercial customers, the Notsi project will support the growing aggregator market, enable businesses to decarbonise and support South Africa’s transition to lower carbon, more sustainable energy consumption,” said Mike Wickins, Chief Commercial Officer of Anthem.
The Notsi project is being debt financed by a consortium comprising Standard Bank Group, Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking, Absa Group, Vantage Capital and Third Way Investment Partners.
Anthem is responsible for all asset management in construction and operation and will assume responsibilities for operation and maintenance from the third year of operation. A joint venture of two Chinese developers, China Energy Engineering Corporation and Northwest Electric Power Design Institute, has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract.
According to details on the website, Anthem has an asset portfolio of more than 2 GW, including more than 1 GW of assets supplied through South Africa’s sustainable procurement program, and an additional project pipeline of more than 11 GW.
Last month, South African independent power producer SOLA Group reached financial close for its Naos-1 hybrid solar-plus-storage project, touted as the first of its kind in the country purpose-built to transmit power to residential end-users across the entire grid.
South Africa’s cumulative solar capacity now exceeds 10 GW, following the deployment of 1.6 GW last year.
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