Renewable energy corporation Enel Green Power South Africa (EGP SA) has appointed Manuele Battisti country manager.

Battisti, who succeeded William Price, joined Enel Group in 2008 and held various positions within the company, moving to South Africa in 2019.

As the new country manager of EGP SA, he will be responsible for the three business lines in the value chain – development, engineering and construction and operations and maintenance. 

EGP SA initially focused on business development and expansion in South Africa, particularly through renewable energy projects built under Bid Windows (BWs) 3 and 4 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

This year, the company is focusing its attention on the effective production of electricity from the existing 1 200 MW in operation from its current wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, as well as preparing its submission for BW6 of the REIPPPP.

Simultaneously, it is negotiating power purchase agreements with large private consumers to diversify its client base. 

EGP SA explains that one challenge facing the renewables sector is the country’s limited grid capacity. Similar to all countries, the grid was designed to deliver electricity from centralised generation centres to large centres of consumption, which in South Africa’s case have traditionally been concentrated in the same area.

On the contrary, the best solar and wind resources are concentrated in areas where the population and consumption are limited.

The company says that, to address this challenge, new solutions need to be created. To this end, EGP SA is developing plants in non-traditional areas to be closer to consumers or rather to connect to the grid with residual hosting capacity.

Therefore, the challenge is to enhance electricity production to meet consumption requirements and to provide electricity at the lowest cost for the country.

The priority for future expansion will be to broaden EGP SA’s scope with more Eskom-driven projects awarded through the REIPPPP, as well as growing its portfolio of private clients.

Eventually, this may lead to bringing other business units from the group into South Africa, for example, distribution and transmission, demand side management, trading and even electric mobility.

“Supporting the country toward stabilisation of the energy market and a just transition, as well as broadening EGP SA’s client base, are firmly within Battisti’s scope of responsibilities.

“With his solid experience in the renewables sector, combined with his knowledge of the African markets, he is well positioned to meet the company’s business objectives in his new role as country manager,” EGP SA concludes.