Hogan Lovells advises SOLA Group on the corporate aspects of its two 100 MW solar power projects in South Africa

These projects will generate power for Tronox Mineral Sands’ operations at five facilities in South Africa and are, to date, amongst the largest private energy generation projects (and first 100MW projects) registered by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. The projects reached financial close on 9 September 2022, and are expected to be constructed over a period of some 14-months.

Commenting on this, partner at Hogan Lovells, Chris Green, says: “We are delighted to have been involved in this significant energy deal in the South African market. Private power projects of this nature are key contributors to addressing South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis and ensuring a secure and reliable energy supply to South African industries, businesses and consumers alike. We would like to congratulate all parties involved in this transaction, particularly our client, SOLA Group”.

The registration of the projects in May follows the 2021 changes to the regulations promulgated under the national Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (“ERA”), which permit private energy generation of up to 100MW to proceed without a license (the projects must still be registered with NERSA). This was, at the time, a welcome change as prior to this the license-free registration of a private project was capped at 1MW. The South African Government has since announced that these regulations will be further relaxed to remove any capacity cap on the licence-free registration of private power projects. In this regard, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy gazetted a proposed amendment to the ERA on 2 September 2022. The Licensing Exemption and Registration Notice is currently open for public comment. Interested persons are invited to comment before 1 October 2022.

The Hogan Lovells team is being led by Chris Green (Partner, M&A), with support from Lisa Botha (Counsel, M&A), Marlene Murphy (Senior Associate, M&A) and Jean Nel (Candidate Attorney, M&A), all based in Johannesburg. Pinsent Masons is advising SOLA Group as Sponsors legal advisor on all other aspects of the transaction.

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About SOLA Group:

The SOLA Group is a vertically integrated Independent Power Producer and a leader in the supply of clean energy solutions to private companies in Africa. SOLA’s mission is to transform Africa through clean energy. 

The group consists of two unique and complementary businesses. SOLA Assets started in 2008 as Aurora Power Solutions, a utility-scale solar project developer. Its sister company, SOLA Build, started in 2013 as SOLA Future Energy, an EPC concentrating on private-sector PV opportunities. Together, SOLA Build has built over 100 MW of embedded-generation solar PV projects, mostly for the private sector, and SOLA Assets has developed over 1000 MW solar PV projects in Africa, making it one of the largest solar companies in South Africa.

Together, the SOLA Group offers all stages of solar PV implementation: from project development and financing, design, procurement and construction, to the operations and maintenance of solar PV facilities.