The Oya Energy project – a greenfield development spanning the Western and Northern Cape provinces, between the towns of Ceres and Sutherland – has reached financial close.
Financial close refers to the point at the end of the procurement phase where the public-private partnership contract has been signed, any conditions precedent for financing are met and financing is in place so that the project company can commence construction.
The Oya Energy Hybrid Project will be jointly owned and operated by ENGIE (35%), G7 Renewable Energies (20%), Meadows Energy (22.5%) and Perpetua Investment Holdings (22.5%), and is one of the 11 preferred bidders under South Africa’s Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), it said in a statement this week.
Last year Oya Energy signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Eskom and an Implementation Agreement with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in South Africa. Once operational, the Oya Energy Hybrid Project will provide essential dispatchable energy to the South African grid.
The Oya Energy Hybrid Project combines 155MW of solar PV power, 86MW of wind power, and a 92MW / 242MWh battery energy storage, all within a single location.
At the heart of this project were co-located wind turbines, solar PV arrays, lithium-ion batteries, and a cutting-edge hybrid controller. This integrated system efficiently orchestrated all three technologies, providing dispatchable power to the grid as and when needed.
The Oya Energy Hybrid Project is the largest hybrid energy project of its kind in Africa, but it is also globally unique in terms of its technology mix, size, and cost-effectiveness. Its strategic location boasted abundant natural resources and proximity to the grid connection point, complemented by advanced battery storage capabilities.
Construction of the Oya Energy Hybrid Facility after financial close, with a fast-tracked completion date of no longer than 18 months thereafter, should help ease South Africa’s power crisis.
Mohamed Hoosen, ENGIE managing director Renewables AMEA & South Africa country manager, said the Oya Hybrid project was an innovative first-of-its-kind power solution, and ENGIE was pleased to partner with G7 Renewable Energies to build, own and operate this facility in South Africa.
“The Oya hybrid project is a testament to ENGIE’s commitment to the long-term low-carbon energy security of South Africa.”
Dr Kilian Hagemann, the CEO of G7, said this was a momentous milestone for G7 and its partners in the Oya Project.
“We are incredibly proud of our team and grateful for the support of our partners. As the original developer of Oya since 2015, G7 led the visionary complex hybrid technical modelling, supplementing the originally planned stand-alone wind farm with optimally sized battery storage and photovoltaic to deliver this first-of-its-kind project.
“The Oya Hybrid Energy Project demonstrates our expertise and ability to develop complex and efficient hybrid renewable energy projects in South Africa. We look forward to the completion of this state-of-the-art project.”
Romaya Dorasamy, the managing director at Meadows Energy, said this milestone was a remarkable achievement for Meadows Energy and an enormous step towards a sustainable and innovative energy future.
“The Oya Project is not just a power generation initiative, but a testament to our collective capability to create meaningful change.”
Perpetua Holdings director Logan Govender added that they had forged a solid and true sense of collaboration with their respected partners on the Oya Project and were excited by the innovative and high-impact contribution that they were collectively confident it would deliver as part of South Africa’s energy transition.
Dr Hagemann added that this project represented the blueprint of a carbon-neutral, 100% renewable future power grid dominated by solar PV, supplemented by large amounts of wind power and storage capacity for balancing surpluses and shortfalls to provide all the power the local economy needed without resorting to any fossil fuels.
“It’s the first time that renewables are providing baseload power.”
The project was said to deliver clean power to approximately 180 000 South African homes. It would accelerate the country’s transition to renewable power generation and reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 573 105 tonnes annually, the equivalent of 72 680 cars on the road. The project fell within the Komsberg Renewable Energy Development Zone.
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