Wind, solar and energy storage project consultancy and technical services provider ArcVera Renewables has set up a permanent office and new subsidiary company in Cape Town, strengthening its six-year local presence to offer and meet the growing renewable energy ambitions of South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
This move underpins South Africa’s growing importance as a strategic market for ArcVera, the company said in a statement on July 19.
South Africa leads the continent in installed renewable energy capacity, with 3.5 GW of wind and 2.4 GW of solar capacity. As activity in the renewables market is ramping up, the company decided to reinforce its local presence with the creation of a new international office, establishing a platform from which to expand its activity across the region.
ArcVera has its headquarters in Colorado, in the US, and has also established offices in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Bangalore, India.
ArcVera energy engineer Daniel Struwig will be heading up the new Cape Town-based business – ArcVera Renewables South Africa – and will be leveraging his renewable energy project development expertise to lead business development and support existing clients together with the ArcVera technical team.
“The country is planning to install 6.8 GW of wind and solar projects. This is a significant long-term project pipeline for the industry.
“Competition is as fierce as ever and we are here to see our clients’ projects succeed. Africa’s competitive auction system means that early-stage optimization is critical, and every additional basis point of energy production value can make the winning difference,” he explained.
Present in South Africa for several years now, ArcVera has provided consultancy support for an estimated 600 MW of operating wind energy capacity in the country. The firm will now have the ability to trade using the South African rand to facilitate its business in the sub-Saharan Africa region.
ArcVera business development director David Simkins, meanwhile, noted that “valued clients know the results we provide can be relied upon for project financings and are shown in our benchmarking results to be accurate through the entire operating plant lifetime”.
He added that “establishing ArcVera Renewables’ business offices in South Africa continues to progress our commitment and promise to provide ArcVera’s high-value technical services globally”.