Business Tech Africa Spoke with Katherine Persson, Managing Director at Sola Group South Africa about the impressive growth trajectory of the alternative energy supply company.
Background
Katherine was born in South Africa, but spent her school and university years in the UK.
and then “returned to South Africa temporarily 18-years ago” Katherine quirks about her permanent temporary return.
I asked Katherine what made her stay: “Part of the reason that I stayed in South Africa is because I started my career in renewable energy in the UK, and came here just at the time when things were really taking off and starting to become exciting” she says. “So all that opportunity to do interesting projects and be part of this growing industry is what led me to stay here.
Big Hairy Audacious Goals
Back in 2013, Sola set its first, what Katherine calls a big, hairy, audacious goal, and that was to produce 100 million kilowatt hours of clean energy.
According to Persson, it took seven years for that to happen, during a period when the company was doing mostly small rooftop Commercial and Industrial installations.
This was also achieved during a period where there was still the NERSA generation licence requirement for anything over a megawatt.
So effectively, that goal was set, knowing that there would need to be a major restructuring in the energy regulatory environment to be able to make that possible. Otherwise, it would have meant hundreds and hundreds of smaller required.
Milestone reached this Month
And then it took Sola four years to do nine-times the clean energy generation that it took to create in the previous seven years.
Katherine proudly remarks that “we hit that one billion kilowatt hours at the beginning of this week” (3 December).
“So it’s a really nice milestone”, she comments, “We were aiming to finish by the end of this year, so a month early” she states.
The Sola Group is focused mostly on solar PV and battery energy storage system projects. And in the last two years, have undertaken four major projects which have really changed the energy landscape in South Africa.
The Group built a 256 megawatt wheeling project for Tronox, which is now fully operational, plus they have two further projects that are still in construction with a target output of 130 megawatts and 196 megawatts respectively.
These according to Persson, will come into operation in the second half of 2025.
What Is Energy Wheeling?
I asked Katherine to explain the concept of an energy wheeling project and how this differs from a standard solar installation:
“The process of entering into what we call a wheeling transaction is that the generator, the project enters into the PPA (Private Procurement Agreement) with the buyer” she explains. Here Eskom is not involved in the commercial arrangements at all. The PPA is between the buyer and the seller only. “And then at the buyer’s facility, they’re already connected to the Eskom network, and they have an electricity supply agreement directly with them” sayas Persson.
What in effect happens is that agreement gets amended to note that electricity will be received from both Eskom and another party. And then the project on the other side has agreements to connect onto the national grid for the purpose of wheeling to that buyer. And then the reconciliation happens on a monthly basis to square up the financials of the offsetting of the renewable energy generated.
Persson says that “it’s a bit of a different contracting framework, but it is now becoming commonplace”. “Actually, there’s been quite a few wheeling projects completed financial close and gone into construction over the recent years”.
Big Energy and Big Green Savings
The benefit for the buyer ultimately is that they then benefit from the receipt of electricity which is cheaper than the rates that they would pay via a direct supply from Eskom, plus they are also able to claim the green energy attributes and carbon benefits.
“So, it’s both that economic incentive of the cost saving, but also the green benefits and the green credentials that those buyers are really looking for” Katherine says.
Some of Sola’s clients to date include Tronox Mineral Sands, Sibanye Stillwater, African Rainbow Minerals, as well as several major tech companies, who are powering large data centres. Major groups requiring large energy consumption in the 300 MW range.
“ But then there’s also now like the next tier of buyers who might be looking for 5 or 10 or 30 megawatts of demand” says Persson, “and they’re taking the benefits of what we’re seeing now are kind of much smaller and more flexible power purchase agreements which are available in the market”.
“But we do both big Wheeling projects and the bigger on-site projects, particularly where they involve batteries” she comments.
Powering into the Future
I ask Katherine that after they have reached this incredible goal where she sees the company going in the future?
“So, it’s an exciting time, not just for Sola Group, but also for all of the businesses operating in renewable energy” She responds. “And I think what you can see, when you look at the data of our billion kilowatts over the last four-year period, there’s been exponential growth right at the tail end”. “Actually most of our electricity has been produced in the last few months, so, I think we’re starting to see now a step change in renewable energy, and particularly the amount of renewable energy that’s going onto the grid to serve private clients” she states.
“So, as part of this vision of the future, we need to make sure that we work alongside Eskom and the new NTCSA to work out how we’re going to rapidly expand grid capacity. And for Solar, we’ll set a new goal”, “Knowing the company, it’s likely to be as big and hairy and audacious as the previous one, and most likely with a particular focus on very large battery energy storage systems alongside solar PV”. “That’s something that we think is very exciting and likely to become a real focal point for renewable energy in South Africa”, Persson Concludes.
