Remgro’s Energy Exchange is set to start selling affordable wind and solar power to South African businesses in mid-2023. Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has announced it had acquired a 25% shareholding in Remgro’s Ubiquity Energy platform. Ubiquity Energy platform is the holding company of Energy Exchange of Southern Africa, better known as Energy Exchange.
Energy Exchange is a Nersa-licensed electricity trader, offering corporate customers an alternative renewable source of electricity produced by independent power generators.
Commenting on the deal, Sindisiwe Mosoeu from RMB’s infrastructure sector said they are upbeat about the prospects of Energy Exchange. She said the exchange enables buying and selling of electricity and opens South Africa’s energy market.
Apart from connecting electricity buyers and sellers, it also encourages investment in private generation capacity as there is now an easy way to sell power.
Mosoeu said Energy Exchange would start selling electricity in June 2023 and already has a pipeline of buyers and sellers.
“The exchange has a pipeline of over 100 MW of electricity which will be delivered over the next year or two,” she said.
She explained that there is no capacity limit to the electricity that can be traded, but there are constraints like grid capacity, generation availability, and demand.
Energy Exchange will provide corporates with the ability to blend different sources of electricity to create a tailored energy profile.
Mosoeu said that apart from additional funding, RMB will help to unlock the market through its extensive business network and expertise. RMB has been funding electricity projects for years and has seen the evolution of these projects in the market.
“We have the expertise, client base, understanding, and network to help facilitate growing the private energy market,” she said.
The target market for the service is large businesses and corporates looking for affordable green energy. The service is mainly for corporates that require 5 MW or less and don’t want to build their own power plants.
Acknowledgement
This article was first published by Daily Investor
