Photo by: Creamer Media
A 97.5 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project will be constructed in the Free State following the signing of a 20-year corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) between Mainstream Renewable Power and industrial groups Sasol and Air Liquide.
The project forms part of a joint initiative by Sasol and Air Liquide to decarbonise their operations at Sasol’s Secunda complex, in Mpumalanga, through the integration of 600 MW of renewable electricity in the coming years.
The two industrial groups report that they have so far received grid access for 200 MW of renewable electricity.
Sasol produces synthetic fuels and chemicals from coal and gas feedstocks at the complex, where Air Liquide operates the world’s largest oxygen production site.
Sasol, in particular, is coming under increasing social and shareholder pressure to decarbonise its operations, having set a target to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 30% against a 2017 baseline by 2030.
Mainstream reports that construction will start this year and that the solar PV farm is scheduled to be fully operational in 2025, with the electricity generated to be wheeled through the national grid.
In March, Sasol, which is also pursuing renewables projects separately from Air Liquide, concluded a PPA with the 69 MW Msenge Emoyeni Wind Farm.
The wind project will supply renewable electricity to the Sasolburg site, in the Free State, from the second quarter of 2024, where the group is also piloting the production of green hydrogen.