Solarcentury Africa Granted Membership of the Southern African Power Pool for Trading Power

– One of the first conditional memberships to be granted and a significant step forward for the SAPP and Solarcentury Africa

– Paves the way for Solarcentury Africa to build its first merchant solar PV plant, targeting trading of the power from that plant in 2024

– Solarcentury Africa, with the support of its parent company BB Energy, aims to build a portfolio of renewable plants with the green power generated being traded on a merchant basis, contributing to the energy transition and helping to deliver much needed power across the region

Solarcentury Africa is pleased to announce that it has been admitted by the Southern African Power Pool (“SAPP”) as a conditional member of the SAPP as a Market Participant. This is one of the first such memberships to be granted and represents a significant step forward in developing the power market in the region and ultimately delivering more renewable power generation capacity to help meet the region’s growing power needs.

Solarcentury Africa will achieve full unconditional membership upon reaching commercial operation of its first merchant power plant in Namibia. This solar PV plant is already fully funded and targeted to reach commercial operation in 2024 when it will generate clean, reliable power that Solarcentury Africa will sell through the SAPP markets and direct to customers.

The SAPP was founded to facilitate and support the development and operation of the interconnected power system across the Southern African region. Its members are primarily state utilities from the SADC member countries, with provision for private sector companies to join as suppliers or customers of power. Its vision is to be a fully integrated, competitive energy market and a provider of sustainable energy solutions for the SADC region and beyond. The SAPP’s competitive energy market provides a platform for members to trade power on a monthly, weekly, day-ahead and intra-day basis. Power can also be traded directly with other members through bilateral agreements.

The SAPP membership and the building of the first merchant solar PV plant in Namibia are important steps in Solarcentury Africa’s strategy announced last year to establish a power trading business in the SADC region. This will be achieved through the leading position of Solarcentury Africa as a developer of solar PV and storage plants in Africa, while leveraging BB Energy’s long history and multi-decade trading expertise in Africa. Solarcentury Africa believes that the merchant route opens up the opportunity to deliver significant new renewable power generation capacity quickly and cost effectively. This will contribute to the energy transition in the region and help meet the region’s growing power needs.

Steve Dihwa, Executive Director of the SAPP Coordination Centre said, “The SAPP is delighted to award conditional membership to Solarcentury Africa, and we look forward to their active participation in the regional power pool. Private participants like Solarcentury Africa will play an increasingly important role in supporting the region to overcome the prevailing power deficit by adding new generation capacity traded through the regional power market thus benefiting more countries in the Southern African region. Solarcentury Africa has ambitious plans to become a significant regional power company and we encourage such ambitions. We wish them every success.”

Jason de Carteret, CEO of Solarcentury Africa said, “We would like to thank the SAPP for granting us our conditional membership, which is an important milestone for our trading strategy in the region. We are in a unique position due to our long history of developing large-scale renewable energy projects combined with our parent company, BB Energy, having over 50 years of global energy trading experience. This represents an opportunity for Solarcentury Africa to become a major player in the space by applying the best practices the Group has developed over several decades.

We are proud that our Namibian solar PV plant will be the first truly merchant plant that will be adding new capacity to the SAPP, which will contribute to the reduction of the serious power deficit in the SADC region. We look forward to continuing to grow our solar PV and storage deployment in the region.”

About Solarcentury Africa
Solarcentury Africa is one of the leading renewable energy developers in Africa with over ten years of experience operating on the continent. Headquartered in the UK with a physical presence in several countries in Africa, it is a market leader in the development of solar PV and energy storage projects using smart energy technology and controls in sub-Saharan Africa. Solarcentury Africa’s projects, partnerships and technologies generate clean power for investors, businesses and communities. Solarcentury Africa is part of the BB Energy Group.

About BB Energy
BB Energy was founded in the 1960s and today is one of the world’s leading independent energy trading companies, with a fast-growing renewable energy and emission reduction division. The company has some 500 employees in 12 offices around the world, with key trading hubs in London, Dubai, Houston and Singapore.

Media Contacts

Karim Bassatne
Head of Corporate Communications
T: +971 4 432 8300
E: corporatecommunications@bbenergy.com