Mainstream Inks Deal to Develop RE Plants in South Africa

Global green energy player Mainstream Renewable Power has signed a lease agreement with South Africa’s national electricity company – Eskom – for a 1,650-hectare site where it plans to build and operate renewable energy plants. The quantum of the renewable energy project has not yet been disclosed by the company.

The official statement of Mainstream held that the lease agreement will run for 25-30 years and it is part of a new initiative by Eskom to make land available around existing power stations with sufficient, available grid capacity in order to fast-track the connection of large quantities of renewable energy to the national grid.

Mainstream said that the land is located next to the Majuba and Tutuka coal-fired power stations in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa.

Hein Reyneke, General Manager for Africa, Mainstream, said, “We look forward to delivering renewable power at scale at this site and, in doing so, help to industrialise the renewable energy sector in South Africa, bringing thousands of much-needed jobs as well as long-term benefits to the surrounding communities.”

Mainstream expects the renewable power generators to be connected to the grid within 36 to 48 months from financial close. It will now conduct a comprehensive series of feasibility studies to determine which technologies will be implemented – wind, solar and battery storage.

Mainstream added that the exact generation capacity will be known once the studies have been completed. The land parcels have already been thoroughly screened for useability, taking into account accessibility, areas above underground mines, future mining activities, the conservation of environmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands and heritage sites, and the sloping of the land parcels.

Mainstream Renewable Power

Mainstream claims to be the most successful company in South Africa’s renewable energy procurement programme, with over 2.1 GW awarded to date. This includes 850 MW of wind and solar generation assets that Mainstream has already delivered into commercial operation across Rounds 1, 3 and 4 of the REIPPPP.

In 2021, the company was awarded preferred bidder status in Round 5 of the programme, with a total capacity of 1.27 GW across wind and solar technologies.

Mainstream has bagged some other key RE projects in other parts of the world too. It recently announced that it has been appointed preferred bidder by Crown Estate Scotland for an area with the potential for a 1.8 GW offshore wind farm off the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It also achieved US$182 million financial close for the third and final phase of its “Andes Renovables” wind and solar platform in Chile.

Mainstream and Aker Offshore Wind have also announced the inking of an agreement to combine the two companies to create a stronger renewable energy company with a 27 GW portfolio.