The 89 MW Castle Wind Farm, a facility dedicated to supplying renewable energy to multinational mining and metals processing group Sibanye-Stillwater’s South African operations, has achieved commercial operation.

This marks a significant milestone for the group and for South Africa's private renewable energy sector, with Castle being the largest private-offtake wind farm in operation in the country to date.

Located near De Aar, in the Northern Cape, the project benefits from some of South Africa's best wind resources and direct access to the main transmission corridor connecting the Cape provinces to the industrial north-east of the country.

Third-party funding for the project was secured through a 15-year build, own, operate and transfer power purchase agreement (PPA).

Castle will supply about 309 GWh/y of electricity – about 5.5% of Sibanye-Stillwater’s energy demand in South Africa – through a wheeling agreement with State-owned utility Eskom.

The group says its CO₂ emissions are also expected to decrease by about 321 000 t/y – representing about 5% of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

“This milestone represents a significant advancement in providing sustainable, lower-cost power and progressing towards our goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2040,” says Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman.

The wind farm is one of four renewable-energy projects, with a combined capacity of 407 MW, that are under construction and will supply electricity to Sibanye-Stillwater’s operations in the country.

It is expected that 267 MW of capacity will achieve commercial operation this year, including 75 MW from the Springbok Solar Project and 103 MW from the Witberg Wind Farm. Up to a further 333 MW is forecast to be completed by the end of 2026, including the 140 MW Umsinde Emoyeni wind farm, says Sibanye-Stillwater.

As previously reported by Mining Weeky, Sibanye-Stillwater is planning for a 600 MW portfolio of renewable-energy projects in its journey to carbon neutrality in South Africa.

The Castle consortium was led and co-sponsored by African Clean Energy Developments (ACED), with African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) IDEAS Fund and Reatile Renewables as shareholders.

AIIM is a division of Old Mutual Alternative Investments and its IDEAS Fund is one of South Africa’s largest domestic infrastructure equity funds.

ACED and AIIM affiliate, Energy Infrastructure Management Services (EIMS Africa), will manage the wind farm.

“We thank the project consortium for effectively managing the construction and startup, securing our offtake. We will continue to drive the delivery of the balance of our renewable-energy projects as a key element of our group strategy,” says Froneman.

“We are pleased to bring Castle Wind Farm into operation for Sibanye-Stillwater and the project shareholders. Projects such as these require huge amounts of collaboration and cooperation between a vast array of stakeholders, and we are very grateful for the role played by all.

“Benefits extend way beyond buyer and seller, with renewables projects driving sustainable economic growth on a macro and micro level for South Africa, and we are very proud of this,” says ACED CEO James Cumming.

ACED and EIMS Africa note that this project brings the total delivery by the ACED and EIMS Africa teams to over 600 MW of hydro, wind and solar projects to financial close and construction in the last 24 months, enhancing the consortium’s collective drive to be a leader in renewable-energy development and operation in South Africa and across the continent.

This builds on over 1 GW of projects they have already developed and operate through the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

“Reaching [commercial operation] is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the extended teams of Sibanye-Stillwater, our partners AIIM, ACED and EIMS Africa, as well as our appointed contractors.

“We could not have done it without their commitment and expertise. We are proud to be playing our role in South Africa’s energy transition and delivering sustainable energy solutions for South Africa,” adds Reatile Group business development executive Sunette Smith.