South African independent power producer Anthem has announced financial close on its Notsi Solar PV project located in South Africa’s Free State.
With a planned capacity of 620 MW (475 MWac), it is billed as the largest solar project in the country to date.
The Notsi project is set to cover more than 1,000 hectares and feature over 860,000 solar panels. Once operational, it will generate approximately 1.5 TWh annually. A statement published by Anthem says it will supply energy over the national grid to the commercial and industrial sectors for over 20 years, via a multi-offtaker wheeling model in place with financial services provider Discovery Limited and green energy supplier NOA.
“By supplying renewable energy to corporate and commercial offtakers, the Notsi project supports the growing aggregator market, enables corporate decarbonization and supports South Africa’s transition to lower‑carbon, more sustainable energy consumption,” commented Anthem Chief Commercial Officer, Mike Wickins.
The Notsi project is being debt financed by a consortium including Standard Bank Group, Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking, Absa Group, Vantage Capital and Third Way Investment Partners.
Anthem is responsible for all asset management in construction and operations and will assume operations and maintenance responsibilities from year three of operations onwards. A joint venture company belonging to two Chinese developers, China Energy Engineering Corporation and Northwest Electric Power Design Institute, has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract.
According to details on its website, Anthem has an asset portfolio of over 2 GW, including over 1 GW of assets delivered through South Africa’s renewable procurement program, and an additional project pipeline in excess of 11 GW.
Last month, South African independent power producer SOLA Group reached financial close on its Naos‑1 hybrid solar-plus-storage project, touted as the first of its kind in the country purpose-built for wheeling power to private end-users across the grid.
South Africa's cumulative solar capacity now stands in excess of 10 GW, after deploying 1.6 GW last year.
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