Norway’s Scatec is set to sell part of its ownership of three solar power plants in South Africa. It has also completed the sale of its entire stake in an 8.5 MW plant in Rwanda.
In South Africa, the agreement with Greenstreet 1 Proprietary limited will see Scatec reduce its interest in the Kalkbult plant from 46% to 13% and its ownership in the Linde and Dreunberg solar plants from 44% to 12% for a total ZAR921 million ($50 million).
The three plants were all commissioned in 2014, have a combined capacity of 190 MW and hold 20-year PPA’s with South Africa’s national utility Eskom.
Greenstreet 1 Proprietary limited is a subsidiary of Stanlib Infrastructure Fund II, managed by Stanlib, South Africa’s second-largest asset manager and part of Standard Bank Group Limited.
Scatec has confirmed it remains committed to long-term investment in South Africa and plans to continue to provide operations and maintenance and asset management services to the three facilities.
Terje Pliskog, Scatec CEO, said the transaction signifies the company’s strategy of recycling capital into new investments. “South Africa will continue to remain a core growth market for us, and we will continue to build scale through new investments,” he said.
The transaction will be conducted in a two-step process. The first phase is estimated to close in the second half of 2024 and the second in the first half of 2025.
Meanwhile, in Rwanda, investors Fortis Green Fund I Rwanda Holdings Ltd and Axian Energy Green Ltd acquired Scatec’s 54% stake in the site, which first commenced operation in 2014, for $1.38 million.
Scatec has confirmed it also exited from the operations, maintenance, and asset management agreements of the power plant and has officially discontinued all operations in Rwanda.
“We continue to deliver on our strategy to consolidate our portfolio through divestment of assets in non-core markets, and recycling capital into new investments in renewable energy,” Pliskog explained. “We are confident that the new owners will take good care of the solar power plant and continue to deliver clean renewable energy to the Republic of Rwanda for many years to come.”
Scatec specializes in renewables development in emerging economies. Earlier this year, Pilskog spoke to pv magazine about ongoing projects in South Africa, Botswana and Egypt.
Figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency state Rwanda had 25 MW of deployed solar at the end of 2023, the same figure recorded for the last five years. In February, the European Union secured a raw materials deal with the country, which is expected to support the expansion of solar in Rwanda.
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