Mercuria eyes equity in African assets, new metals boss says
“You will see us very present in Africa and putting our money where our mouth is in respect of the Copperbelt,” Kostas Bintas said.
Anglo American (LON: AAL) has joined forces with EDF Renewables to establish a new jointly owned company, Envusa Energy, which will focus on developing a regional renewable energy ecosystem (RREE) in South Africa.
The partners have been working since March on exploring how to support Anglo’s operational power requirements in the country, while boosting South Africa’s renewable energy sector and supporting its broader energy transition plans.
As part of the agreement, Envusa Energy is launching a mature pipeline of more than 600 MW of wind and solar projects in South Africa – a major first step towards the development of an ecosystem that is expected to generate between 3 GW and 5 GW of renewable energy by 2030.
This first phase of Envusa Energy’s renewables projects is expected to be fully funded – including by attracting debt financing that is typical for high quality energy infrastructure projects – and ready for construction to begin in 2023.
“This is a significant milestone in Anglo American’s global decarbonization journey and another step forwards for South Africa’s clean energy future,” Nolitha Fakude, chair of Anglo American’s board in South Africa, said in the statement.
“We are making great strides towards our 2040 target of carbon neutral operations, while contributing to South Africa’s just energy transition through our responsible approach.”
The roll-out of RREE will also serve as a clean energy source to produce green hydrogen for Anglo’s nuGen zero emission haulage solution – a planned fleet of hydrogen-powered ultra-class mine haul trucks – reducing on-site diesel emissions towards a carbon neutral future while also supporting the development of South Africa’s Hydrogen Valley.
Envusa Energy is exploring a range of community partnership models that will enable locals to share in the benefits created by the development of the RREE, along its value chain.
