Anglo American and EDF Renewables partnership

RNS Number : 6401B

Anglo American PLC

04 October 2022

 

4 October 2022

Anglo American and EDF Renewables agree renewable energy partnership in South Africa to form Envusa Energy - launching 600MW of wind and solar projects in first phase

Anglo American in partnership with EDF Renewables announce their agreement to form a new jointly owned company, Envusa Energy, to develop a regional renewable energy ecosystem ("RREE") in South Africa.

In March 2022, the two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the ecosystem's development, designed to meet Anglo American's operational power requirements in South Africa and support the resilience of the local electricity supply systems and the wider decarbonisation of energy in the country. The RREE is also expected to catalyse economic activity in South Africa's renewable energy sector, supporting the country's broader just energy transition.

As part of the agreement, Envusa Energy is launching a mature pipeline of more than 600 MW of wind and solar projects in South Africa - a major first step towards the development of an ecosystem that is expected to generate 3-5 GW of renewable energy by 2030. This first phase of Envusa Energy's renewables projects is expected to be fully funded - including by attracting debt financing that is typical for high quality energy infrastructure projects - and ready for construction to begin in 2023.

Envusa Energy is expected to supply Anglo American with a blend of renewable energy generated on Anglo American's sites and renewable energy transmitted via the national grid. This energy portfolio approach will aggregate energy from geographically dispersed renewable generating assets and allocate this energy optimally to meet the load demand for Anglo American's sites.

Nolitha Fakude, Chair of Anglo American's Management Board in South Africa , said: "I'm delighted to confirm our ground-breaking partnership with EDF Renewables to form Envusa Energy. This is a significant milestone in Anglo American's global decarbonisation journey and another step forwards for South Africa's clean energy future. We are making great strides towards our 2040 target of carbon neutral operations, while contributing to South Africa's just energy transition through our responsible approach. We believe that the energy transition presents a fresh opportunity for South Africa and the rest of the region to build a clean and inclusive energy ecosystem that can create significant new economic opportunities. I am very encouraged by our progress - affirming Anglo American's commitment to South Africa's next phase of development towards a low-carbon future."

Tristan de Drouas, CEO at EDF Renewables in South Africa , said: "We are very pleased to be part of this very innovative venture and look forward to bringing our global expertise in renewable energy infrastructure development, design and delivery to Envusa Energy. This partnership with Anglo American confirms our long-term perspectives in the country: this 600 MW first tranche of projects will be added to the almost 1 GW that EDF Renewables will be building or operating in the country by 2023 - including 420 MW of wind projects in REIPPP Bid Window 5, whose PPAs were signed with Eskom and the DMRE on 22 September 2022. Together, these projects further EDF Group's CAP 2030 strategy, which aims to double our net renewable installed energy capacity worldwide (hydropower included) from 28 GW in 2015 to 60 GW by 2030."

The roll-out of the RREE will also serve as a clean energy source for the production of green hydrogen for Anglo American's nuGen™ Zero Emission Haulage Solution (ZEHS) - a planned fleet of hydrogen-powered ultra-class mine haul trucks - significantly reducing on-site diesel emissions towards a carbon neutral future while also supporting the development of South Africa's Hydrogen Valley.

Through the formation of Envusa Energy, Anglo American and EDF Renewables are committed to supporting South Africa's economic transformation and empowerment goals. The process to identify an appropriate Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partner for Envusa Energy is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Furthermore, and in line with both companies' commitment to a just energy transition, Envusa Energy is exploring a range of community partnership models that will enable host communities to share in the benefits created by the development of the RREE, along its value chain. The RREE is an opportunity to help build a more collaborative and inclusive economy that places people and the principle of shared prosperity at the heart of development. We expect that the development of the ecosystem will generate a range of new economic opportunities and contribute towards unlocking South Africa's growth and development potential.

For further information, please contact:

Media		Investors
Anglo American UK James Wyatt-Tilby [e-mail] Tel: [phone] Marcelo Esquivel [e-mail] Tel: [phone] South Africa Nevashnee Naicker [e-mail] Tel: [phone] Sibusiso Tshabalala [e-mail] Tel: [phone] Nompumelelo Kunene [e-mail] Tel: [phone] EDF Renewables France Manon de Cassini-Hérail [e-mail] Tel: [phone] Eugénie Gai [e-mail] Tel: [phone]		UK Paul Galloway [e-mail] Tel: [phone] Emma Waterworth [e-mail] Tel: [phone] Michelle Jarman [e-mail]   Tel: [phone] South Africa Sue Parker-Smith [e-mail] Tel: [phone]

Notes to editors:

Anglo American is a leading global mining company and our products are the essential ingredients in almost every aspect of modern life. Our portfolio of world-class competitive operations, with a broad range of future development options, provides many of the future- enabling metals and minerals for a cleaner, greener, more sustainable world and that meet the fast growing every day demands of billions of consumers. With our people at the heart of our business, we use innovative practices and the latest technologies to discover new resources and to mine, process, move and market our products to our customers - safely and sustainably.

As a responsible producer of diamonds (through De Beers), copper, platinum group metals, premium quality iron ore and steelmaking coal, and nickel - with crop nutrients in development - we are committed to being carbon neutral across our operations by 2040. More broadly, our Sustainable Mining Plan commits us to a series of stretching goals to ensure we work towards a healthy environment, creating thriving communities and building trust as a corporate leader. We work together with our business partners and diverse stakeholders to unlock enduring value from precious natural resources for the benefit of the communities and countries in which we operate, for society as a whole, and for our shareholders. Anglo American is re-imagining mining to improve people's lives.

www.angloamerican.com

       

EDF Renewables is an international leader in renewable energy, with a gross installed capacity of 15.6 GW worldwide. Its development is largely driven by wind (onshore and offshore) and solar photovoltaic power, and more recently battery storage. EDF Renewables operates in majority in Europe and North America but is continuing to grow by moving into promising emerging regions such as Brazil, China, India, South Africa, Australia and the Middle East. EDF Renewables develops, builds, operates and maintains renewable energy projects, both for itself and for third parties.

Since 2011, EDF Renewables has established itself as a leading Independent Power Producer in South Africa, having successfully developed a portfolio of renewable energy projects. The subsidiary currently operates 142MW of wind farms in South Africa and has been awarded over 800MW in new projects in 2021.

www.edf-re.co.za

Envusa Energy ("Envusa")  is a jointly owned company formed by Anglo American and EDF Renewables. The company will supply a blend of renewable energy, generated on Anglo American's sites in the southern Africa region, and renewable energy transmitted via the national grid. This energy portfolio approach will aggregate the energy from the geographically dispersed renewable generating assets and allocate the energy optimally to meet load demand for Anglo American's sites in the region.

The name Envusa is inspired by the Nguni word, Vusa, which means "to awaken" or "new beginnings" in other contexts.

Forward-looking statements:

This document includes forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this document, including, without limitation, those regarding Anglo American's financial position, business, acquisition and divestment strategy, dividend policy, plans and objectives of management for future operations (including development plans and objectives relating to Anglo American's products, production forecasts and Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource positions) and environmental, social and corporate governance goals and aspirations, are forward-looking statements. By their nature, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Anglo American or industry results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding Anglo American's present and future business strategies and the environment in which Anglo American will operate in the future. Important factors that could cause Anglo American's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, among others, levels of actual production during any period, levels of global demand and commodity market prices, mineral resource exploration and development capabilities, recovery rates and other operational capabilities, safety, health or environmental incidents, the effects of global pandemics and outbreaks of infectious diseases, the outcome of litigation or regulatory proceedings, the availability of mining and processing equipment, the ability to produce and transport products profitably, the availability of transport infrastructure, the impact of foreign currency exchange rates on market prices and operating costs, the availability of sufficient credit, the effects of inflation, political uncertainty and economic conditions in relevant areas of the world, the actions of competitors, activities by courts, regulators and governmental authorities such as in relation to permitting or forcing closure of mines and ceasing of operations or maintenance of Anglo American's assets and changes in taxation or safety, health, environmental or other types of regulation in the countries where Anglo American operates, conflicts over land and resource ownership rights and such other risk factors identified in Anglo American's most recent Annual Report. Forward-looking statements should, therefore, be construed in light of such risk factors and undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this document. Anglo American expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking (except as required by applicable law, the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, the UK Listing Rules, the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority, the Listings Requirements of the securities exchange of the JSE Limited in South Africa, the SIX Swiss Exchange, the Botswana Stock Exchange and the Namibian Stock Exchange and any other applicable regulations) to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Anglo American's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Nothing in this document should be interpreted to mean that future earnings per share of Anglo American will necessarily match or exceed its historical published earnings per share. Certain statistical and other information about Anglo American included in this document is sourced from publicly available third party sources. As such it has not been independently verified and presents the views of those third parties, but may not necessarily correspond to the views held by Anglo American and Anglo American expressly disclaims any responsibility for, or liability in respect of, such information.

Legal Entity Identifier: 549300S9XF92D1X8ME43

 

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