Scatec’s South Africa divestment: Norway’s Scatec has closed phase I of its previously announced sale of parts of its ownership in the Kalkbult, Linde, and Dreunberg solar power plants in South Africa. The buyer is Greenstreet 1 Proprietary Limited, a subsidiary of STANLIB Infrastructure Fund II, managed by STANLIB Asset Management Proprietary Limited. It has received a gross consideration of ZAR 921 million ($53 million) for the total ownership share sold to STANLIB. Now, Scatec owns close to 31% interest in Kalkbult and a 28% stake in Linde and Dreunberg projects. Phase II of the divestment is expected to close in H1 2025, bringing down Scatec’s stake in these facilities to around 13% in Kalkbult, and 12% in Linde and Dreunberg.
€6 million for 18 MW in Burkina Faso: French independent renewable energy company Qair has raised a €6 million ($6.64 million) concessional financing package for the completion of an 18 MW solar power plant in Dédougou, Burkina Faso. The PV project is contracted under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Société Nationale d’électricité du Burkina Faso (SONABEL). The financing package was approved by the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA). It supports the bank’s Desert-to-Power initiative that seeks to develop 10 GW of solar energy capacity across 11 nations in the Sahel region by 2030.
Seraphim modules for South Africa project: Chinese solar PV manufacturer Seraphim has signed an agreement to supply 40.50 MW of its high-efficiency solar modules to the Avondale Solar Plant in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The Umoyilanga project of EDF Renewables was awarded under the country’s Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP). Seraphim says it has been a crucial solar module technology partner since 2021, supporting EPC contractor CCM Mooiplaats with its locally produced products.
12.2 MW AC solar plant in Zimbabwe: Gold miner Caledonia Mining Corporation has signed a conditional sale agreement to sell the entire share capital of its Zimbabwe subsidiary Caledonia Mining Services (Private) Limited or CMS. The latter owns and operates the 12.2 MW AC solar power plant that powers Blanket Mine in the African nation. It has sold CMS to CrossBoundary Energy Holdings (CBE) for $22.35 million in cash. The solar power plant will continue to sell power to the mine under a power purchase agreement (PPA). This will ensure close to 1/5th of the mine’s daily electricity requirement is met by renewable power. CBE plans to expand the solar power plant.
Gold Standard for Bboxx: Rwanda-headquartered plug-and-play solar systems company Bboxx has been awarded Gold Standard certification for its clean energy projects in 5 African nations for its carbon credit programs based on solar home systems (SHS), clean cooking alternatives and solar-powered water pumps. It says these projects have delivered substantial emissions reductions and are each expected to generate up to 60,000 carbon credits annually. The program covers the company’s operations in multiple African nations including Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, Togo, and the DRC. Founded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other international NGOs in 2003, Gold Standard is a voluntary carbon offset program focused on projects that provide lasting social, economic, and environmental benefits.
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