Anglo American and EDF Renewables cemented their huge ambitions in South African green power by forming a joint venture called Envusa Energy.
The mining giant and global renewables developer said Envusa will be central to their joint ambition to develop what they described as a “regional renewable energy ecosystem” of up to 5GW by 2030.
The pair in March announced that they would cooperate to create a network of wind, solar and storage facilities that can deliver 24/7 green power via on-site projects or the grid to Anglo American’s vast operations mining diamonds, platinum, iron ore and coal in South Africa.
Envusa Energy will start life with “a mature pipeline of more than 600MW of wind and solar projects” that it hopes to be ready for construction in 2023.
“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,” said a statement.
As well as supplying renewable electricity, the partners said Envusa’s projects will support green hydrogen production to be used in a fleet of H2-fuelled mining trucks.
Nolitha Fakude, chair of Anglo American's management board in South Africa, said: "This is a significant milestone in Anglo American's global decarbonisation journey and another step forwards for South Africa's clean energy future.”
Anglo American is among a clutch of global mining groups to emerge as major consumers from – and in some cases developers of – renewable energy projects.
Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group has unveiled multi-billion-dollar plans to decarbonise its operations and to build a new business line as a green hydrogen producer, while Rio Tinto wants to spur 6GW to serve its own Australian operations.
