Cennergi, the South African cleaner energy company recently launched by Exxaro and Tata Power, is thrilled by government’s announcement that it has been granted preferred bidder status on two of its renewable energy projects.

The projects formed part of the second bidding window for the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP). A total of 79 bids were submitted on 5 March 2012 and comprise more than 3 200 MW of potential capacity.

The company was successful in two of its largest wind projects, setting the company on its way to achieving its aim of 16GW of renewable projects by 2025.

“We have been successful by being awarded 234MW out of the window 2 wind allocation of 650MW, or 36% of the wind allocation. The 234MW of allocation to the company is 74% of the total MW submitted by us into window 2. These two projects are of scale and create a solid base for the business to grow from,” says Thomas Garner, Cennergi CEO.

The company’s Amakhala Emoyeni Wind Farm project is a 140MW wind farm located near the town of Bedford in the Eastern Cape. It has an excellent wind resource and close proximity to infrastructure such as roads and the national electricity grid.

The second successful wind project is the Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm, which is being developed together with Watt Energy and the Tsitsikamma Development Trust. It is a 95MW wind farm located on the Mfengu community land, in the Eastern Cape. Thirty one wind turbineswill be installed with a hub height of 94m.

Wendy Green, Cennergi’s REIPPP manager says, “The Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm is an example of a truly South African renewable energy project, developed with a Port Elizabeth based black-owned developer, Watt Energy and strong community participation. The land is now owned by the Mfengu community who were removed from their land in 1977.”