AIM and AltX listed energy company, Kibo Energy Plc, has announced that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with Hasta Trust, to jointly assess and develop a portfolio of long duration energy storage projects held exclusively by National Broadband Solutions (NBS) in South Africa, with an initial target of 36,320 MWh capacity. NBS is currently 100% owned by Hasta.
Kibo says the agreement is a major step forward in its strategy to integrate long duration energy storage into its commercial project pipeline, following its recent signing of a framework agreement with CellCube to develop, and deploy, CellCube based Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) solutions in Southern Africa.
“We are pleased to have entered into this agreement with Hasta, which aligns perfectly with the company’s strategy to become a significant presence in the long duration energy storage market and sets up an additional potential revenue stream for Kibo,” said Louis Coetzee, CEO of Kibo Energy.
“We believe that CellCube’s approach to Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) uses the technology most likely to dominate the renewable energy electricity generation sector, for the purposes of a utility scale battery storage system, to ensure consistent and reliable electricity supply to clients who are increasingly suffering from the unreliable electricity supply by the national utility,” added Coetzee.
Kibo will acquire a 51% interest in NBS, in exchange for granting NBS exclusive access to Kibo’s strategic capabilities and capacity, in respect of long duration storage solutions, for specific market sectors covered by NBS’s project portfolio. Kibo will also appoint three directors to the board of NBS with Hasta appointing two directors.
“The projects will service specific industry/business sectors within South Africa, with many of these industries severely impacted by the frequent load shedding imposed by the country’s national utility. (Load shedding is a system of rationing electricity during the day, meaning there are daily periods lasting for hours during which no electricity is available to a given industry or business sector),” Coetzee concludes.
