The first 25 turbines at Seriti Green’s Ummbila Emoyeni Wind Farm, which is rising in the coal heartland of Mpumalanga within site of the giant Secunda coal-to-liquids complex and in close proximity to three Eskom power stations, have officially entered commercial operation.

The milestone was commemorated at a ceremony presided over by President Cyril Ramaphosa on July 31, and represents the first 155 MW phase of a planned 900 MW renewable energy roll-out by Seriti Green in the province, with construction on the first project having begun in April 2023.

Seriti Resources CEO Mike Teke, who is also Seriti Green’s chairperson, rejected the notion that the renewables investment represents “green washing” by a company built on coal mining, and whose mines are one of the anchor customers for the electricity arising from the wind farm.

Power purchase agreements (PPAs), he noted, had also been signed with energy traders Energy Exchange, NOA and most recently Etana Energy, which initialled a PPA at the ceremony.

Instead, Teke reiterated his stance that the investment signified the group’s goal of being an “energy company” that would invest in wind, solar and battery energy storage, while continuing to produce coal, including from its new Naudesbank Colliery which had a 20-year life-of-mine.

To date, Seriti had invested R15-billion in the wind project, in which Standard Bank and Rand Merchant Bank have also taken equity, and it signed a new agreement with Standard Bank for a further R10-billion in investment, raising the overall investment commitment to R25-billion.

It also concluded another engineering procurement and construction contract with Chinese turbine supplier Goldwind, which had already installed 48 turbines on the site, of which 25 were operating.

Seriti Green also had agreements in place with construction group Stefanutti Stocks and Tractionel, which Seriti credited for delivering the key R1.2-billion main transmission substation (needed to connect the wind farms to the grid and which had been delivered to the National Transmission Company South Africa) in an impressive 17 months.

“Across the road from where we stand today, we are planning a further 600 MW of wind energy development,” Seriti Green CEO Peter Venn enthused during a speech at the company’s new Mpumalanga Office in Bethal that is also its remote operations and training centre.

The office is in close proximity to the wind farm sites on farms, several of which continue to produce maize and rear livestock, in Bethal, Davel and Morgenzon. The English translation of the isiZulu name ‘Ummbila Emoyeni’ is ‘maize in the air’.

“Together with Ummbila Emoyeni, Phefumula Emoyeni will create one of the largest renewable-energy precincts in Southern Africa, all 187 turbines,” Venn added, indicating that it was likely to invest a total of R40-billion in renewables in Mpumalanga.

Plans were already advancing for a solar PV project on land rehabilitated by Middelburg Mine Services in partnership with Eskom Green alongside the utility’s Duvha power station, and investigations were under way into battery energy storage systems.

Venn also linked the project directly to government’s ongoing ‘Just Energy Transition’ objectives, noting that 2 100 employees had contributed to the renewables project to date, including many individuals drawn from the coal industry.

“We have amazing skills in the coal sector – all we need to do is cross skill them into the language of wind energy.

“These skills are totally transferable, so I'm very comfortable that, with the support of government, we can deploy 10 000 construction jobs in the renewable-energy sector for the next decade,” Venn concluded.