Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Construction firm Group Five [JSE:GBF] may construct a R5bn solar plant to supply mines, with first power seen in two years' time, a company official said on Tuesday.
"We hope to be producing power in 2013 when it starts to come on line," Group Five director of engineering and construction Greg Heale told Reuters on the sidelines of an African refinery conference.
He later clarified that the project is still in development phase, saying "if the project goes ahead".
Heale said Group Five, South Africa's fourth-largest construction firm, expected to conclude all contractual arrangements, including off-take agreements, with mining companies within the next six months.
He did not want to name the mining firms.
The project, to be located in the sun-drenched Northern Cape province, would see construction of 150 megawatt first phase, although the plant could be upgraded 450 to 500 MW, Heale said.
South Africa is rapidly moving away from an over-reliance of dirty coal power, which supplies more than 90% of the country’s energy needs, to cleaner energy sources such as solar, wind and nuclear.
South Africa could produce its first solar power from a proposed $21bn solar park by 2012, eventually supplying 5 000 MW of power.
The country wants to accelerate its renewable energy programme to meet a target of of producing 10 000 gigawatt hours by 2013.
Last month, Group Five said diluted headline earnings per share for the six months to end-December fell 21% to 198 cents, compared with 249c in the same period a year earlier.
The group said its total secured construction order book stood at R9.3bn, little changed from the end of June.
The South African construction industry, which avoided the worst of the global economic crisis due to big projects ahead of the 2010 World Cup, is now having difficulty finding new projects, as both the government and the private sector hold back on spending.
The industry is also the target of a sweeping investigation over bid-rigging by South Africa’s competition watchdog.
"We hope to be producing power in 2013 when it starts to come on line," Group Five director of engineering and construction Greg Heale told Reuters on the sidelines of an African refinery conference.
He later clarified that the project is still in development phase, saying "if the project goes ahead".
Heale said Group Five, South Africa's fourth-largest construction firm, expected to conclude all contractual arrangements, including off-take agreements, with mining companies within the next six months.
He did not want to name the mining firms.
The project, to be located in the sun-drenched Northern Cape province, would see construction of 150 megawatt first phase, although the plant could be upgraded 450 to 500 MW, Heale said.
South Africa is rapidly moving away from an over-reliance of dirty coal power, which supplies more than 90% of the country’s energy needs, to cleaner energy sources such as solar, wind and nuclear.
South Africa could produce its first solar power from a proposed $21bn solar park by 2012, eventually supplying 5 000 MW of power.
The country wants to accelerate its renewable energy programme to meet a target of of producing 10 000 gigawatt hours by 2013.
Last month, Group Five said diluted headline earnings per share for the six months to end-December fell 21% to 198 cents, compared with 249c in the same period a year earlier.
The group said its total secured construction order book stood at R9.3bn, little changed from the end of June.
The South African construction industry, which avoided the worst of the global economic crisis due to big projects ahead of the 2010 World Cup, is now having difficulty finding new projects, as both the government and the private sector hold back on spending.
The industry is also the target of a sweeping investigation over bid-rigging by South Africa’s competition watchdog.
