Anglo, EDF to launch S African renewables JV with 600-MW pipeline

Mining multinational Anglo American Plc (LON:AAL) and the renewables unit of France’s EDF (EPA:EDF) have agreed to set up a joint venture with a mature pipeline of more than 600 MW of wind and solar projects in South Africa.

The purpose of the new company, called Envusa Energy, is to develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem (RREE) to cater to Anglo American's operational power needs in South Africa. The two partners entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore this initiative in March 2022. As mentioned then, the said ecosystem is expected to generate 3 GW to 5 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

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Envusa Energy will supply Anglo American with a blend of on-site renewable energy and power transmitted via the national grid. In addition, the mining company will use the ecosystem to support the production of green hydrogen for its nuGen Zero Emission Haulage Solution (ZEHS), a planned fleet of hydrogen-powered mine haul trucks.

The first phase of Envusa Energy's projects is expected to enter construction next year. The firm will initiate a process to identify an appropriate Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partner this quarter. In the meantime, it is exploring various community partnership models to enable host communities to share in the benefits of the ecosystem.

Tristan de Drouas, CEO at EDF Renewables in South Africa, stated that the 600-MW first tranche of projects are in addition to nearly 1 GW of plants that will be built by EDF Renewables in the country by 2023.