SA's biggest private wind farm gets funding

March 28, 2025

South Africa achieved a milestone this week by securing financing for two renewable energy projects. Red Rocket obtained funding for its 242 MW wind farm, which is set to be the country's largest privately developed single wind farm. Mulilo Energy also received financing for its 105 MW solar project in the Northern Cape.

  • Private sector investment in renewable energy in South Africa is growing fast. Since January, projects totalling over 1,000 MW, including 300 MWh of battery storage, are in development, with the majority currently under construction.

  • To support renewable energy investment, the government has launched initiatives like the Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (BESIPPPP). It focuses on procuring standalone battery systems to stabilise the power supply from intermittent renewable sources.

  • Our take: At this pace, we expect South Africa to reach over 3,000 MW of projects to be completed by the end of this year, triple that of last year… Read more (2 min)

The success of rural mini-grid projects requires bundling appliances to increase consumption demand. This is according to Erastus Musyoka, an energy expert, whom we interviewed this week. Simply connecting people without considering demand risks the sustainability of these projects and trivialises the bankability of these investments.

  • Mr Musyoka has worked in Kenya’s energy sector for over nine years and has overseen several projects, mainly mini-grids, in the underserved regions of Kenya.

  • Last month, the World Bank issued a $150 million funding to build 114 solar mini-grids across 14 counties. This is at the final phase of the Kenya Off-Grid Solar Project (KOSAP), which began in 2018.

  • Our take: New mini-grids regulations are expected to boost investor confidence in this sector once they become effective… Read more (2 min)

Today we introduce our monthly index for the renewables sector. It shows whether the situation in the sector has improved or worsened in the past month and by how much. This is measured by the change in five key areas: Funding, capacity, pricing, staffing and policy. Data is from verified public sources, rigorously analyzed by our Africa-based expert team.

  • We also include a ranking of African countries based on data in five separate categories in the past three months: Projects (number and cumulative size), policy (number and impact), funding (number and size and type), events (number), employment (number of jobs advertised, number of top ten companies in the sector).

  • Furthermore, we include a ranking of companies in Africa's renewables sector. This is based on the conviction that people are the single best indicator for how well a company is doing. Hence we rank companies by people metrics: Size (number of staff, number of sales staff, number of country locations with 3+ staff), growth (increase in staff, increase in number of sales staff) and maturity (experience, tenure, number of top degrees).

  • Our take: All the above will be drawn together every month and displayed in a convenient dashboard. To see it in full, please click here_________//___________

Technical operations manager of Engie visits newly commissioned mini-grids in Nigeria

Events     

🗓️ Learn about PV installation risks (Apr 2)

🗓️ Register for the Solar Cooling Conference and Tour in Kisumu, Kenya (Apr 14)

🗓️ Join peers at the International Conference on Renewable Energy and Energy Development (Mar 29)

Jobs

🛠️ Engineer Juwi’s SCADA activities (South Africa)

👷🏻‍♂️ Become Schneider Electric’s Mechanical Design Engineer (Egypt)

💼 Lead d.light’s business development operations (Kenya)

Various 

🤝 Nigerian fintech Payhippo secures $4 million for clean energy financing

🌀 Tanzania completes construction of the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Plant

⚡ Algeria starts construction of an 80 MW solar power plant in Al-Abadla

Seen on LinkedIn 

Ivie Ehanmo, Founder of Electricity Lawyer, says, “As the continent seeks to enhance energy access, efficiency, and security, AI-driven innovations are reshaping grid management, demand forecasting, and renewable energy integration.”

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