The 140MW Ishwati Emoyeni Wind Farm, developed by a consortium including South African renewable energy independent power producer, African Clean Energy Developments (ACED), has achieved financial close, and construction on the project has commenced.
South African energy trader and aggregator, NOA, will be the offtaker for the electricity produced by the project. ACED co-developed the project with the African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) through the IDEAS Fund and Reatile Group.
“Reaching financial close on this wind project is a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation in South Africa. Together with our long-term partners AIIM, ACED and EIMS, we are propelling South Africa Inc. towards a sustainable future and energy security” said Sunette Smith, Business Development Executive of Reatile Group.
The Ishwati Emoyeni Wind Farm will be constructed for an estimated investment of R4.9 billion and will start generating electricity in 2026. Standard Bank South Africa acted as lead arranger for the project financing.
The wind energy project comprises 32 Vestas 4.5MW wind turbines, and will be adjacent to two of the ACED-EIMS-IDEAS-Reatile consortium’s other projects of the same size: the Umsinde Emoyeni and Khangela Emoyeni Wind Farms.
“We’re delighted to have closed and commenced construction on this complex and pioneering project – the first trader offtake project at scale. It’s the long term PPAs we sign, such as that with NOA here, that bring these projects to life. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve NOA, so that they can in turn do so for their growing list of energy customers,” said James Cumming, CEO of ACED.
Energy trader NOA received its trading licence from NERSA on the 31st of January 2025, enabling it to buy all the renewable energy generated by the Ishwati Emoyeni Wind Farm.
“This marks the first large-scale renewable project in South Africa to reach financial close with an energy trader as the offtaker,” said Karel Cornelissen, CEO of NOA Group.
“With NOA Trading, the trading arm of NOA Group, now holding its trading licence, we are authorised to purchase electricity from Ishwati, other third-party IPPs and NOA’s own generation facilities, aggregate it, and wheel it through the Eskom grid to geographically dispersed offtakers across the South African market,” added Cornelissen.
ACED-EIMS-IDEAS-Reatile consortium with Werksmans Attorneys, A&O Shearman, DLA Piper, Capic, Bastion and Lockton in their various capacities as advisors, all of whom were instrumental in achieving financial close on the project.
Over the past 24 months, the ACED and EIMS Africa teams have successfully advanced over 600MW of hydro, wind, and solar projects to financial close and construction.
Additionally, they have already developed and operate more than a gigawatt of projects under the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
