Kibo Energy, the renewable-energy-focused development company, said yesterday that it was pleased with the progress it had made since announcing its refocused strategy to pivot to renewable energy.
The Kibo Group said its strategy was focused on developing, owning, and operating sustainable energy solutions that could immediately and progressively address the acute energy challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, the UK and Ireland.
The company said it achieved this by acquiring and developing energy assets that could be brought into production within an 18-to-24-month timeline.
Kibo Energy CEO and non-executive chairperson Louis Coetzee said: “In following this strategy, Kibo has built a robust and diversified project pipeline and bolstered its project development capacity. This diversified portfolio sufficiently de-risks the Kibo strategy execution from management’s perspective, and has successfully propelled the company to a position where it currently has the realistic expectation of seeing several projects in revenue generation status over the next 12 to 24 months.”
The group announced in 2021 that it would exit coal by a disposal process of its coal assets, all of which are in Southern and Eastern Africa.
“This process is still under way, and the company has entertained various approaches or offers since and is currently considering a definitive term sheet in this regard which, should it be agreed, the company expects to announce. The company’s various coal assets are, however, faced with some fundamental challenges,” it said.
The group said the challenges include funding for the construction of new coal mines, which was not readily available, especially for thermal coal deposits.
“All the Kibo coal assets are situated in very remote areas with very little to no existing infrastructure, far away from any export port, more than 800km, and with no significant local coal market; and the Kibo coal assets are thermal coal deposits and, although thermal coal is in big demand now, it does not command a premium price, which makes such deposits less attractive for exporters, especially when considered in conjunction with the above two points,” the group said.
BUSINESS REPORT