4 October 2022
Anglo American in partnership with EDF Renewables announce their agreement to form a new jointly owned company, Envusa Energy, to develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem ("RREE") in South Africa.
In March 2022, the two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the ecosystem's development, designed to meet Anglo American's operational power requirements in South Africa and support the resilience of the local electricity supply systems and the wider decarbonisation of energy in the country. The RREE is also expected to catalyse economic activity in South Africa's renewable energy sector, supporting the country's broader just energy transition.
As part of the agreement, Envusa Energy is launching a mature pipeline of more than 600 MW of wind and solar projects in South Africa – a major first step towards the development of an ecosystem that is expected to generate 3-5 GW of renewable energy by 2030. This first phase of Envusa Energy's renewables projects is expected to be fully funded – including by attracting debt financing that is typical for high quality energy infrastructure projects – and ready for construction to begin in 2023.
Envusa Energy is expected to supply Anglo American with a blend of renewable energy generated on Anglo American's sites and renewable energy transmitted via the national grid. This energy portfolio approach will aggregate energy from geographically dispersed renewable generating assets and allocate this energy optimally to meet the load demand for Anglo American's sites.
"I'm delighted to confirm our ground-breaking partnership with EDF Renewables to form Envusa Energy. This is a significant milestone in Anglo American's global decarbonisation journey and another step forwards for South Africa's clean energy future. We are making great strides towards our 2040 target of carbon neutral operations, while contributing to South Africa's just energy transition through our responsible approach. We believe that the energy transition presents a fresh opportunity for South Africa and the rest of the region to build a clean and inclusive energy ecosystem that can create significant new economic opportunities. I am very encouraged by our progress – affirming Anglo American's commitment to South Africa's next phase of development towards a low-carbon future."
"We are very pleased to be part of this very innovative venture and look forward to bringing our global expertise in renewable energy infrastructure development, design and delivery to Envusa Energy. This partnership with Anglo American confirms our long-term perspectives in the country: this 600 MW first tranche of projects will be added to the almost 1 GW that EDF Renewables will be building or operating in the country by 2023 - including 420 MW of wind projects in REIPPP Bid Window 5, whose PPAs were signed with Eskom and the DMRE on 22 September 2022. Together, these projects further EDF Group's CAP 2030 strategy, which aims to double our net renewable installed energy capacity worldwide (hydropower included) from 28 GW in 2015 to 60 GW by 2030."
The roll-out of the RREE will also serve as a clean energy source for the production of green hydrogen for Anglo American's nuGen™ Zero Emission Haulage Solution (ZEHS) – a planned fleet of hydrogen-powered ultra-class mine haul trucks – significantly reducing on-site diesel emissions towards a carbon neutral future while also supporting the development of South Africa's Hydrogen Valley.
Through the formation of Envusa Energy, Anglo American and EDF Renewables are committed to supporting South Africa's economic transformation and empowerment goals. The process to identify an appropriate Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partner for Envusa Energy is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Furthermore, and in line with both companies' commitment to a just energy transition, Envusa Energy is exploring a range of community partnership models that will enable host communities to share in the benefits created by the development of the RREE, along its value chain. The RREE is an opportunity to help build a more collaborative and inclusive economy that places people and the principle of shared prosperity at the heart of development. We expect that the development of the ecosystem will generate a range of new economic opportunities and contribute towards unlocking South Africa's growth and development potential.
Media
Anglo American UK
James Wyatt-Tilby: james.wyatt-tilby@angloamerican.com | +44 (0)20 7968 8759
Marcelo Esquivel: marcelo.esquivel@angloamerican.com | +44 (0)20 7968 8891
Anglo American South Africa
Nevashnee Naicker: nevashnee.naicker@angloamerican.com | +27 (0)11 638 3189
Sibusiso Tshabalala: sibusiso.tshabalala@angloamerican.com | +27 (0)11 638 2175
EDF Renewables France
Manon de Cassini-Hérail: manon.decassini-herail@edf-en.com | +33 (0)6 29 48 43 40
Eugénie Gai: Eugenie.gai@edf-re.fr | +33 0(6) 10 89 41 24
Investors
Anglo American UK
Paul Galloway: paul.galloway@angloamerican.com | +44 (0)20 7968 8718
Emma Waterworth: Emma.waterworth@angloamerican.com | +44 (0) 20 7968 8574
Michelle Jarman: michelle.jarman@angloamerican.com | +44 (0)20 7968 1494
EDF Renewables South Africa
Sue Parker-Smith: communications@edf-re.co.za | +27 (0)21 657 4200
Anglo American is a leading global mining company and our products are the essential ingredients in almost every aspect of modern life. Our portfolio of world-class competitive operations, with a broad range of future development options, provides many of the future-enabling metals and minerals for a cleaner, greener, more sustainable world and that meet the fast growing every day demands of billions of consumers. With our people at the heart of our business, we use innovative practices and the latest technologies to discover new resources and to mine, process, move and market our products to our customers – safely and sustainably.
As a responsible producer of diamonds (through De Beers), copper, platinum group metals, premium quality iron ore and metallurgical coal for steelmaking, and nickel – with crop nutrients in development – we are committed to being carbon neutral across our operations by 2040. More broadly, our Sustainable Mining Plan commits us to a series of stretching goals to ensure we work towards a healthy environment, creating thriving communities and building trust as a corporate leader. We work together with our business partners and diverse stakeholders to unlock enduring value from precious natural resources for the benefit of the communities and countries in which we operate, for society as a whole, and for our shareholders. Anglo American is re-imagining mining to improve people’s lives.
EDF Renewables is an international leader in renewable energy, with a gross installed capacity of 15.6 GW worldwide. Its development is largely driven by wind (onshore and offshore) and solar photovoltaic power, and more recently battery storage. EDF Renewables operates in majority in Europe and North America but is continuing to grow by moving into promising emerging regions such as Brazil, China, India, South Africa, Australia and the Middle East. EDF Renewables develops, builds, operates and maintains renewable energy projects, both for itself and for third parties. Since 2011, EDF Renewables has established itself as a leading Independent Power Producer in South Africa, having successfully developed a portfolio of renewable energy projects. The subsidiary currently operates 142MW of wind farms in South Africa and has been awarded over 800MW in new projects in 2021.
Envusa Energy (“Envusa”) is a jointly owned company formed by Anglo American and EDF Renewables. The company will supply a blend of renewable energy, generated on Anglo American's sites in the southern Africa region, and renewable energy transmitted via the national grid. This energy portfolio approach will aggregate the energy from the geographically dispersed renewable generating assets and allocate the energy optimally to meet load demand for Anglo American's sites in the region. The name Envusa is inspired by the Nguni word, Vusa, which means “to awaken” or “new beginnings” in other contexts.
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