Pan African Resources‘s 10 megawatt (MW) Elikhulu solar renewable energy plant has become the first embedded project of more than 1MW to receive full grid code compliance from Eskom.
On Thursday, JUWI Renewable Energies and South African mid-tier gold producer said it had developed the project for Pan African Resources’s Evander gold operations.
This follows the South African government’s decision in 2021 to raise the licensing threshold for embedded generation projects, from 1MW to 100MW, aimed at alleviating the energy crisis by unlocking private generation capacity. In order to attain grid compliance, projects need to demonstrate full compliance with the Renewable Power Plants Grid Connection Code.
Richard Doyle, the managing director at JUWI, said: “We’re delighted that Elikhulu is the first behind-the-client metre large-scale project to get the stamp of approval from Eskom, which confirms that the project adhered to very rigorous grid connection standards.”
Barry Naicker, the head of ESG at Pan African Resources, said: “We’re grateful that the Elikhulu PV plant is online and operating efficiently, and pleased that it is the first project of its kind to be connected to the South African grid. This represents a major turning point in the country’s transition to clean energy.”
When the Elikhulu plant was Initiated by the mining firm, the licensing threshold was 10MW. With the further increase of the licensing threshold to 100MW, the mining company planned to expand the plant’s output to 22MW in 2023, to further reduce GHG emissions and improve efficiencies, which would reduce the cost of gold production.
BUSINESS REPORT