SolarReserve unveils completion of two 75-MW S African PV plants

May 28, 2014 - Two 75-MW direct current (DC) solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in South Africa are now coperational, one of the developers, US firm SolarReserve LLC, said today.

The two solar PV parks, namely Lesedi and Letsatsi, are located in the Northern Cape and the Free State, respectively. They will be able to power over 130,000 local households.

Both projects have 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) in place with domestic utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. They were developed under the first round of the South African government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPP), which aims to install 3,725 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2016.

Apart from SolarReserve, the other project partners include a fund managed by Old Mutual Investment Group South Africa, the Kensani Group, China’s GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd (HKG:3800) and Intikon Energy.

Rand Merchant Bank, the investment banking business of FirstRand Bank Ltd, arranged debt funding for the two projects.

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