Sola Group, a South African solar power producer, has signed land lease agreements with utility Eskom Holdings SOC for two 345 MW renewable power parks.
Sola Group announced on Thursday that the large-scale plants will be built on underutilized Eskom land areas in Mpumalanga province. The contracts were awarded in the first round of the utility’s land leasing Program, which is expected to add 2 GW to the grid.
Sola Group intends to sign corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the future output of the plants, either with existing clients or new counterparties. The company said it intends to advance the projects “as fast as possible.”
Sola Group was one of the four bidders selected to sign contracts for 6,184 ha (15,281 acres) of land around Eskom’s Majuba and Tutuka power stations. The list also includes HDF Energy South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Red Rocket SA (Pty) Ltd, and Mainstream Renewable Power Developments South Africa (Pty) Ltd. The investors will lease the parcels for 25–30 years.
Eskom intends to use the land lease tender to relieve the country’s constrained power system and secure capacity that will be operational after the life of its coal-fired power stations expires. The plants will be connected to the grid in three to four years.
