One of the Largest Suppliers of Coal to South Africa’s Coal Power Plants to Power Its Coal Mining with Wind & Solar – CleanTechnica

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Seriti Green’s broader programme will produce 3,500 MW of power from wind and solar.

South Africa’s grid is powered mostly by coal power plants. Although, renewables are starting to make a significant contribution. One of the largest suppliers of coal to Eskom’s coal fleet now has a programme to power its coal mining operations with renewables. Seriti Coal operates three large-scale, opencast, and underground thermal coal mines — the New Vaal, New Denmark, and Kriel collieries — which respectively supply Eskom’s Lethabo, Tutuka, and Kriel power stations. Seriti is derived from a Sesotho word meaning integrity. Seriti says 32% of Eskom’s electricity is generated from coal supplied by Seriti.

As lowering carbon emissions has become a global imperative, Seriti Resources formed a green energy subsidiary, Seriti Green, in November 2021. Seriti says that, as part of its strategic plan to actively participate in a just transition, the company identified Windlab Africa as an attractive investment. Through its majority stake in Windlab Africa, Seriti will reduce its carbon emissions, and provide a solution to Seriti’s own power needs in a bid to deliver continued financial stability. Windlab Africa, which consists of 100% of Windlab South Africa and 75% Windlab East Africa, has a portfolio of 23 solar and wind projects at different stages of development. These projects will ultimately produce 3,500 MW of power at varying points over the next 10 years.

Seriti Resources and its renewable energy subsidiary, Seriti Green, have announced that Seriti Green has started construction on South Africa’s largest wind farm in Mpumalanga, with power supply coming online by 2025. This follows the signing of heads of terms between Seriti Resources and Seriti Green to a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for 155 MW of power that will be generated by Seriti Green and wheeled through the national grid to Seriti Resources’ coal mining operations.

Seriti Green has partnered with Standard Bank and RMB in the financing and development of this initial 155 MW facility with a capex cost of R4 billion. The 155 MW Wind Energy Facility is the first phase of a larger, ~900 MW renewable energy cluster called Ummbila Emoyeni located between Bethal and Morgenzon in Mpumalanga. Ummbila Emoyeni is a combination of 750 MW of wind energy facilities and 150 MW of solar PV plants. The entire project has been designated as a Strategic Integrated Project by the South African government’s Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.

The agreement is in line with the pledge Seriti Resources made in the MoU signed with Eskom and Exxaro, which outlined Seriti’s commitments to use renewable wind and solar energy in its facilities through the signing of PPAs for the procurement of renewable energy. Under the MoU, Seriti aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by up to 350,000 tonnes per annum, around half of its current emissions. Once constructed, the wind farm will transform over 75% of the energy consumption from Seriti’s existing coal operations into renewable energy whilst helping to mitigate its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and bringing the company a step closer to carbon neutrality. Scope 1 refers to emissions from processes at the mine site, while Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions, such as the purchase of electricity from Eskom.