Company Announcement - Building Energy, multinational company operating as Global Integrated IPP in the Renewable Energy Industry, will participate in the second edition of The European House - Ambrosetti’s “South Africa – Italy Summit”, taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, on October 1st and 2nd 2015. The Italian company will be represented by Fabrizio Zago, CEO, and Matteo Brambilla, Managing Director Africa of Building Energy.The “2015 South Africa – Italy Summit”, with the patronage of the Embassy of Italy to South Africa, the Embassy of South Africa to Italy, and the Black Business Council, and sponsored also by Building Energy, is an exclusive meeting of the most influential business leaders, government authorities and economists from Italy, South Africa and Sub-saharan Africa, which provides them with a platform to debate about the most relevant geo-political and economic issues in order to build strategic relationships and exploit bilateral business opportunities.
Matteo Brambilla, Managing Director Africa of Building Energy, will take part in the Summit with a speech illustrating the company’s Mkuze biomass project during the session: “Agri-business value chains in South Africa and SADC”, scheduled on Thursday, October 1st.
The Mkuze project in the Kwala Zulu Province, which was awarded to Building Energy in 2013 as part of the third round of South Africa’s REIPPP programme, is the first and largest biomass plant in Africa, with a capacity of 14 MW and generating 118 GWh/year. According to the project, which will be developed by Building Energy in partnership with Charl Senekal Trust (CST), South Africa’s main sugar producer, the system will be fuelled by the combustion of sugar cane tops and trash. It will consume 106,000 tons per year of finished product from a plantation of 3,500 hectares. Building Energy will be a shareholder of this project, with a number of local investors including CSST, H1 Holdings, and Mkuze Local Community Trust, whereas Rand Merchant Bank will be the Mandate Lead Arranger for the Project Finance of around 1 Billion Rand (about 72 million Euro).
The energy produced by the plant will supply the South African national grid, partially compensating the current power shortage. Besides reusing waste material which is usually burnt or left on the ground, the plant will also grant social benefits to the local community, considering that construction, which is scheduled to begin at the end of 2015, will involve around 300 local technicians, whereas 200 more will work during the following 20 years in the departments connected to the plant after the activation, expected in mid 2017.
Building Energy has been present in Africa since 2012 with its offices in Cape Town, from which the company has managed the development and realization of more than 30 projects in South Africa and in the center of Africa. Besides Mkuze, one of the main African projects is an 81 MW solar park in Kathu, in the Northern Cape, one of the biggest PV plants on the continent. In April 2015 Building Energy was awarded preferred bidder status in the round four of South Africa’s REIPPP programme for the development of a 140 MW wind project in Roggeveld, in an area between the Northern and Western Cape Provinces and a 4.7 MW small-hydro project in Kruisvallei, in the Free State Province.