Manganese Metal Company (MMC) has signed a 20-year renewable energy supply agreement with NOA Group. The agreement ensures MMC secures approximately 70% of its electricity from sustainable sources.
NOA’s 86 MW portfolio of wind and solar PV facilities will power MMC’s operations and help the company meet its global decarbonisation goals. As a key player in South Africa’s manganese sector, MMC supports the production of high-purity manganese metal and manganese sulphate monohydrate, essential for battery electric vehicles.
Karel Cornelissen, CEO of NOA Group, stated: “This Master Energy Supply Agreement (MESA) supports MMC’s strategy to minimise its environmental impact by securing clean, renewable energy in alignment with the decarbonisation goals of its global customer base.”
According to NOA, the MESA effectively decouples the generation of renewable energy from the point of consumption through NOA’s advanced aggregation model and trading platform. Unlike traditional bilateral agreements that are tied to individual generation facilities, this model offers greater flexibility, efficiency, and certainty in energy supply due to the energy being supplied from NOA’s portfolio of generation facilities.
Furthermore, NOA will provide a renewable energy profile equating to 245 GWh per annum, facilitated by Eskom’s wheeling framework. NOA will source energy from multiple generation facilities across the country, ensuring increased reliability of renewable energy delivery. This approach optimises generation profiles by leveraging diverse geographic and resource-specific characteristics.
In response to growing pressures to adopt environmentally friendly energy sources, mining and other industrial sectors are increasingly turning to energy aggregators for sustainable solutions. These sectors not only require reliable energy supply but also a reduction in their carbon footprints to meet both regulatory standards and corporate sustainability goals.
Bernard Swanepoel, Executive Chairman of MMC, stated: “This landmark agreement with NOA Group marks a significant step in MMC’s sustainability journey, ensuring a reliable and renewable energy supply that aligns with our commitment to decarbonisation and environmental stewardship while reinforcing our role as the largest global supplier of high purity, selenium free (99.9% Mn) manganese metal. It will also enable our high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate product to be credited with industry-leading low carbon emission intensity.”