Construction World September 2018

Constructing and operating

Under the deals signed, AIIM’s IDEAS Managed Fund is a 50,01% shareholder in the three projects which were signed by juwi, under Round 4 of the REIPPPP Programme. The IDEAS Managed Fund is one of South Africa’s largest domestic infrastructure equity funds with R132-million under management. Debt funding has been provided by Absa and Nedbank. The agreements follow in the wake of Energy Minister Jeff Radebe’s R56-billion announcement in April 2018, contracting 27 independent renewable energy power producers to add 2 300 MW of renewable electricity to the national grid over the next five years. The three projects are the 86 MW Waterloo Solar Park situated near Vryburg in the North West Province, the 78 MW Bokamoso Solar Park situated near Leeudoringstad in the North West Province, and the 86 MW Droogfontein 2 Solar Park situated near Kimberley in the Northern Cape. juwi will operate and maintain the solar plants for an initial contract period of five years from commercial operation. juwi Renewable Energies has concluded three Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) contracts, with a combined value of R3-billion, with African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), Africa’s largest and most experienced infrastructure- focused private equity fund manager and a member of Old Mutual Alternative Investments. This will deliver 250 MW of additional solar PV electricity to South Africa’s power grid over the coming few years.

Some of the key social and economic benefits of the new solar facility investments include 100% SA ownership, 50% direct black ownership, greater than 65% black ownership including indirect black ownership, and 40% black participation in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts, and the transition to majority black-owned operations and maintenance contractors. Additionally, the three projects are expected to create over 1 600 jobs during construction and 4 000 jobs during the operations and maintenance phases. Financial close on all three REIPPPP projects was achieved during the course of July 2018, enabling the projects to now move into the construction phase. Construction will commence at Droogfontein 2 in Q3 2018, at Bokamoso in Q4 2018 and at Waterloo in Q1 2019. 

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD SEPTEMBER 2018