Cennergi, based in South Africa, will focus on the development, ownership, operation, maintenance, acquisition and management of electricity generation assets in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. The initial project pipeline focuses on renewable energy projects in South Africa and Cennergi's strategy is to create a balanced portfolio of generation assets.

Year of establishment

Established in March 2012, Cennergi is a 50:50 joint venture formed between Exxaro, the second largest producer of coal in South Africa, and Tata Power, India's largest integrated power company. Cennergi was created to capitalize on the multiple opportunities available to independent power producers (IPP) to serve the expanding energy markets in southern Africa.

Present set up

Cennergi is currently constructing two wind farm projects (Amakhala Emoyeni and Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm projects) in South Africa which were awarded to Cennergi in terms of the Department of Energy's (DoE) Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer's Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) in 2012 and consist of a total 229MW, which is 35% of the wind allocation of the REIPPPP Round.

Power Purchase Agreements and Implementation Agreements for the projects were signed with Eskom and the DoE on 9 May 2013. The investment in both projects is about R7 billion, which has been funded through various lenders, namely Standard Bank, the International Finance Corporation and Nedbank Capital. Exxaro and Tata Power will fully fund the equity for the projects which is about R1.8 billion.

The 134MW Amakhala Emoyeni Wind Farm Project is located near Bedford in the Eastern Cape. A total of 56 turbines will be installed on the land.

The 95MW Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm is located close to Clarkson in the Eastern Cape and is expected to achieve commercial operation with its 31 turbines in 2016.

Apart from the above, Cennergi is pursuing other opportunities also with the intention of developing a portfolio of generation projects in Sub-Saharan African including South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.