Sola Group and Tronox have finally reached a financial closing agreement for two 100MW solar power projects in South Africa, some six months after signing the power purchase agreement.
Two 100MW solar power plants in the North West Province of South Africa have completed financial closures and are now expected to start construction soon. Cape Town-based renewable energy developer Sola Group received approval from South Africa's National Energy Regulator (Nersa) to build the two projects back in May.
Sola Group and US titanium products supplier Tronox signed a power purchase agreement for the enterprise in March this year. Tronox operates several mines and smelters in the region. The electricity produced will be supplied to Tronox's five facilities in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal under transshipment agreements. Under the agreement, state-owned utility Eskom will pay for the maintenance of the transmission infrastructure.
The project has raised a total of R4 billion in construction and development funds, which were jointly raised by Sola and African Rainbow Energy.
In August 2021, the South African government raised the threshold for the distributed generation solar field to 100MW and no longer requires developers to apply for a power generation license to improve the entire approval process. Under the new rules, Eskom must pay transshipment fees to cover the maintenance and upkeep costs of its energy transmission infrastructure.
