ACED awarded IJGlobal Sponsor Award for innovative greenfield projects in renewable energy

Source: © Africa Energy Africa Energy Msenge Emoyeni project is one of the innovative greenfield projects in renewable energy that saw ACED awarded the IJGlobal Sponsor of the Year (Africa) Award

The IJGlobal Awards celebrate standout greenfield and refinancing deals across the global energy and infrastructure industry and honours companies that drive important projects to successful conclusion.

A South African renewable energy developer, ACED, received the award for “driving a pipeline of transactions to financial close through innovation and adaptation alongside a bold strategy that establishes the sponsor as a key player for the future.”

Complex and challenging market

“Getting projects shovel ready is in our DNA but it is the last few steps in achieving financial closure in a changing market that is especially complex and challenging,” explains James Cumming, ACED’s CEO.

He says this is really due to the fledgling but rapidly developing state of the private offtake market in South Africa.

“This means that there are yet to be any precedents or market norms developed, or at least there weren’t when we were closing these.

“This has meant that with ACED being at the helm of the market, we have had to help pioneer the structure and risk allocation of many of the commercial agreements with our offtakers, project shareholders and lenders.”

He adds that the company has also applied unique capital structures and security packages in partnership with lenders to optimise the cost of power for off-takers while maintaining healthy returns for shareholders, all the while keeping bankability a foremost priority.

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Award-winning projects

ACED’s 2024 successes include the financial close of a cluster of 3 x 140MW (420MW) wind farms, all with private sector offtakers: Khangela Emoyeni, Umsinde Emoyeni and Ishwati Emoyeni Wind Farms.

It is also for achieving Commercial Operation of SA’s first private offtake wind project; the 69MW Msenge Emoyeni Wind Farm and financial close of ACED’s first hydro project and first regional project; the 13.5MW Lower Maguduza Hydropower Project (LMHP) in Eswatini.

Umsinde Emoyeni’s off-taker, Sibanye-Stillwater, entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the project.

It is one of three collaborations between ACED and Sibanye-Stillwater.

With Khangela Emoyeni, an offtake agreement was executed with Rio Tinto’s Richards Bay Minerals in a record time of under four months from opening discussions.

For Ishwati Emoyeni, the off taker is NOA Group Trading, the first trading project of scale in South Africa.

Together, the 420MW wind farm cluster amounts to over USD800mil. Construction is underway,y and commercial operation is expected in late 2026.

On the Msenge Emoyeni project, Sasol is the off-taker, having also entered into a 20-year PPA with the project.

Highlighting ACED’s pioneering role in the industry, Msenge Emoyeni is the first private offtake wind farm to have reached financial close and commercial operation in South Africa and was completed in less than 18 months.

The off taker for LMHP is the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC), Eswatini’s national utility, where a 30-year PPA has been executed. Construction is underway and due to be completed in early 2027.

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Global recognition

“We are honoured to receive the prestigious IJGlobal award for our work in wind and hydro energy in Southern Africa,” says Cumming.

“It’s a success we couldn’t have achieved without our valued shareholders, African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) and the AIIM-managed Ideas Fund, as well as our sister asset management company, Energy Infrastructure Management Services (EIMS Africa), and all our project level co-shareholders, partners and offtakers.

“Large renewable energy projects such as these take phenomenal team effort, and we thank all stakeholders involved, but especially our dedicated ACED team,” he says.

Since its inception in 2008, ACED has spearheaded more than 1.8GW of renewable energy projects (70% wind, 30% PV), unlocking a capex value of over $2.3bn.

Its work spans almost 20 projects, with greenfield development to project deployment being a key differentiator.