Steel manufacturing giant ArcelorMittal is planning to conduct feasibility studies for 200 MW renewable energy generation capacity, basis which it will realize projects to power its existing facilities in South Africa on land owned by the company.
It sees adding this capacity in the form of 2 projects of 100 MW each, for Guateng where its South African office is headquartered, and the Western Cape province. The company has not specified which renewable energy sources it is targeting.
As per current plans, the feasibility study will be finalized during 2023/2024, post which it will advance to the next stage with several pre-qualified experts to start and complete the development. It expects to benefit from the projects by early 2025, however all of this depends on the outcome of the feasibility study.
These projects will also offer it more energy security as it would lower the steel maker's dependence on unreliable and expensive electricity from the national grid which it says has 'significantly impacted business performance' in recent years.
Management said the group strongly supports the proposed renewable energy projects in line with its carbon intensity reduction targets. It said lowering ArcelorMittal South Africa's carbon intensity will include ramping up the use of renewable energy.
"This is an important step in our decarbonisation journey and takes advantage of the changes to legislation announced by the South African government last year, which allow private investors to build their own power plants with up to 100 megawatts of generating capacity without requiring a license," said Chief Executive Officer of ArcelorMittal South Africa, Kobus Verster.
In March 2022, ArcelorMittal announced a hybrid renewable energy generation project for round-the-clock (RTC) supply for its local operations in India, to be built by Greenko (see 975 MW RE Project Partnership In India).
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