The local NOA Group has acquired the 240MW Khauta photovoltaic (PV) solar project in South Africa’s Free State province from Germany’s PNE

According to Karel Cornelissen, CEO of NOA Group, it is the first large-scale solar project to enter its aggregator portfolio. NOA Group is an integrated renewable energy platform supported by African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM)

“Together with the support of our shareholder AIIM, we aspire to make a meaningful contribution towards solving the immediate energy supply deficit in South Africa,” said Cornelissen

According to PNE, the Khauta project is expected to be completed by mid-2024. It is being developed over four sites - Khauta West, South and North, and Khauta e Nyane – representing about 629 hectares of buildable area. There is possibility for its capacity to be extended in future

PNE will continue to support the scheme through its subsidiary and local renewable energy developer WKN Windcurrent

According to its website, NOA Group has 30MW of renewables schemes under construction, 714MW under development and is awaiting financial close on an additional 1.5GW of shovel-ready sites

PNE has been active in South Africa since 2010, with around 4GW of wind and solar PV projects under development as at the end of 2023. The group is also involved in two potential green hydrogen schemes in the country. It signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in mid-2023 with Germany’s SET Select Energy for a green hydrogen project on the west coast of South Africa and inked an MoU in early 2023 with the local Omnia Group for the joint evaluation and planning for green hydrogen and ammonia plants.