AMEA Power, the Dubai-based renewable energy company, has announced that it has been awarded a 120-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) project in South Africa as part of the Sixth Bid Submission Phase of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) Programme.

Renewable energy procurement 

In a statement, the company said that the Doornhoek PV Project will sell electricity to the state utility, Eskom, under a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement. The solar project is located near the town of Klerksdorp in the North West Province, and will generate more than 325GWh of clean energy per year and power around 25,000 households. 

In total, the project is expected to offset 290,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, the statement added. Construction of the Doornhoek PV Project will commence by mid-2023 and will make use of more than 45% of locally sourced materials and resources, it continued.

Hussain Al Nowais, Chairman of AMEA Power, said: “The awarding of this project, represents another major milestone for AMEA Power as it is our first in South Africa and was granted in competition with other major renewable energy players. Over the next decade, the country will undergo a massive transition in its approach to electricity generation as the network decommissions large amounts of coal generation and adopts cleaner solutions like wind and solar. 

“AMEA Power aims to bring many more clean energy projects onto the grid to help address the energy shortfall, and provide clean, affordable energy to the country in the long term.

“Clean energy solutions present tremendous opportunities for delivering investment, job creation and social development across South Africa. As AMEA Power expands its clean energy footprint across the continent, South Africa will be a major market for the Company and an opportunity to work with local partners to develop projects across the country,” Nowais added.

Contributing to South Africa’s economic development

AMEA is the majority stakeholder in the US$120m project and has partnered with a consortium wholly owned by African women, formed by Ziyanda Energy and Dzimuzwo Consulting. To further support the development of the country, AMEA Power and its partners will form a community trust, which will own a share of the project, and contribute towards the economic development of communities close to the project.

As part of its long-term planning to reduce its carbon emissions and provide greater energy stability across its electricity network, South Africa aims to increase the share of renewable energy in its energy mix from 11% to 41% by 2030. 

The country also plans to decommission between 8GW and 12GW of coal fired power plants over the next decade. 

In order to help facilitate South Africa’s energy transition, AMEA Power said that it has secured a number of sites suitable for the development of a further 1GW of renewable energy projects in the country. Using these sites, the company will bid into future REIPPP Programmes, and provision for private sector consumers, it said. 

Furthermore, it added that it is also exploring opportunities with a number of commercial and industrial entities across South Africa to provide them with access to renewable energy.

AMEA Power is rapidly expanding its investments in wind, solar, energy storage and green hydrogen, demonstrating its long-term commitment to the global energy transition. The company has a clean energy pipeline of over 6GW across 16 countries.