"Two large-scale solar plants begin feeding green power to the national grid", 02 October 2020

Two utility-scale solar plants in the Northern Cape, Aggeneys Solar and Konkoonsies II Solar, have commenced commercial operations, adding a collective 132 MW to South Africa’s generation capacity. These sister solar plants, situated within 35 kms of each other, both form part of BioTherm Energy’s portfolio, and are expected to produce enough each year to power circa 110,000 households collectively...

“This is a significant milestone, that sees the first two of our four South African renewable energy power plants feeding the grid,” commented Robert Skjodt, CEO of BioTherm Energy...

BioTherm Energy, wholly owned by Actis, has a portfolio of 5 projects in Africa, including Aggeneys Solar, Konkoonsies II Solar, Excelsior Wind and Golden Valley Wind (total capacity 284 MW), implemented under the South African REIPPP Programme, and the 100 MW Kipeto Wind project under construction in Kenya...

Thebe Investment Corporation (TIC) holds a 37.5% stake in BioTherm’s four South African energy projects...

The projects, located in the Northern Cape — the province with the highest volume of renewable energy utility power plants — attract investment, jobs and economic development.

At the height of their construction, Aggeneys Solar and Konkoonsies II Solar, provided jobs to over 1 000 local workers from the rural towns of Aggeneys, Witbank, Pofadder, Pella and Onseepkans, situated within the 50km radius of the plants...

These are the same communities that will benefit from economic development programmes, through the 20-year operations period of the plant. The focus of the economic development initiatives will include education; skills development; and environmental stewardship, in addition to others...