Mineral sands mining group and a leading global supplier of titanium dioxide pigment, Tronox Holdings plc has entered into a long-term power purchase agreement with the South African independent power producer, the SOLA Group, to provide 200 MW of solar power to Tronox’s mines and smelters in South Africa.
The 10 MW Adams solar PV plant in Kathu, Northern Cape, is a SOLA Group project.
Tronox anticipates that the agreement should be fully implemented by the fourth quarter of 2023. The energy will be provided through wheeling arrangements, which allow for Eskom to be paid for the maintenance and upkeep of its infrastructure to transport the energy.
“This renewable energy agreement with the SOLA Group will reduce Tronox’s global carbon emissions by about 13% compared to our 2019 baseline and has the full support of our Board of Directors and senior management,” said Melissa Zona, Tronox Holding plc’s Senior Vice President, External Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer.
The projects will be majority owned and operated by the SOLA Group and will deliver around 540 GWh of energy to five mining operations through long-term power purchase agreements. The developments make use of the government’s recent relaxation of licensing requirements which exempt projects of up to 100 MW from requiring a generation licence.
“We are delighted to see that large scale energy consumers like Tronox are using this opportunity to convert to clean and cost-effective energy,” says Chris Haw, Director and co-founder at the SOLA Group. “This type of project is the fastest way to bring new generation capacity online, to contribute to closing the electricity supply gap in our country, and to support the much needed transition to clean energy and the modernisation of our electricity grid.”
The execution of the agreements comes at a time when South Africa is faced with further load shedding and urgently in need of extra capacity to be added to the national electricity network. Construction is expected to start on the projects in Q3 2022.
The concept of wheeling was first implemented at scale in South Africa by the SOLA Group, with Amazon Web Services, in 2021. It allows projects in advanced stages of development to contract with private energy consumers, thereby shortening permitting, procurement and construction timelines.
The SOLA Group is a vertically integrated independent power producer and a leader in the supply of clean energy solutions to private companies in Africa. The group’s mission is to transform Africa through clean energy. With over 330 MW of projects in operation, SOLA has the in-house ability to develop, design, finance, construct and operate renewable energy projects from rooftop to utility scale. The group has offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and a presence in five African countries. With its core staff of 80 highly experienced professionals, SOLA is currently implementing over 1 GW of independent power projects for private energy consumers.
For more information visit: www.solagroup.co.za