Mining giant, Anglo American Platinum, has selected a consortium of Pele Green Energy and EDF Renewables South Africa to build a 100MW solar energy plant to supply power to its Mogalakwena mine in Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Pele Green Energy is a leading Independent Power Producer (IPP) that develops, owns, procures, constructs and operates renewable energy power projects, whilst EDF Renewables South Africa has global expertise in renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar PV and battery storage.
“Our selection of Pele Green Energy – EDF Renewables South Africa gives us further momentum towards our environmental goals set out in our Sustainable Mining Plan designed specifically to drive business efficiency, resilience, and agility,” said Anglo American Platinum CEO, Natascha Viljoen.
Anglo American Platinum has included a 10% free carry (no requirement to contribute equity capital for the shares) equity ownership into the consortium that will build, own and operate the facility for the life of the plant. This is designed to result in dividends attributable directly to our host communities over time.
The PV plant, which is expected to start construction in Q4 2022, is expected to be operational by the end of 2023 and forms part of Anglo American Platinum’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality across its operations by 2040.
“We are particularly excited about the prospect of using plentiful solar energy to produce green hydrogen at Mogalakwena, as part of a broader project to convert our mine haul trucks to run on zero emission hydrogen fuel cells,” Viljoen added.
“Not only will this reduce our environmental footprint, but these technologies rely on platinum group metals (PGMs), which are an essential component in proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells and PEM hydrogen electrolysers. In turn, this could stimulate additional future demand for PGMs as both technologies roll-out,” concluded the Anglo American Platinum CEO.
Gqi Raoleka, Managing Director of Pele Green Energy commented on behalf of the consortium saying, “we are very excited to progress this market-leading project in the renewable energy industry, whilst creating lasting social impact. We look forward to being part of Anglo American Platinum’s significant carbon neutrality strategy.”
