Mediclinic is not wasting any time taking advantage of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to raise the limit on the self-generation of electricity.
The private hospitals group, which operates facilities in South Africa and Namibia, has contracted Moshesh Partners, a black-owned alternative renewable energy asset manager, to install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at six of its hospitals.
The group has signed a 12-year power purchase agreement with Moshesh (with the option to extend to 25 years), “ensuring that the hospitals have access to affordable and clean power over that time”.
The solar PV systems will generate electricity that is supplied directly to each hospital site, offering cost savings on power bills while relieving pressure on the constrained national grid.
The solar facilities will be built by Aces Africa, which has already completed 153 similar projects in six countries.
Across the six hospitals, the solar sites will have the capacity to generate about 4.1GWh/year, with the largest facilities being installed at Mediclinic Vergelegen and Mediclinic Durbanville. Installations will be rolled out from June to December 2021.
First investment
The Mediclinic deal is the first investment out of the Moshesh Partners RECI Fund 1 since it reached the first close of its R2-billion renewable energy and clean infrastructure energy fund in September 2020.
“Our investment in the project portfolio includes the full installation cost of the solar PV systems as well as maintaining them to ensure consistent, excellent performance,” said Daniel Palm, chief investment officer and co-founding member of Moshesh Partners, in a statement.
“Mediclinic will benefit from immediate and tangible savings, as well as consistent energy supply from a renewable energy source, without having to allocate capital expenditure. The power purchase agreement means that the hospital group will also be protected from excessive power price increases,” Palm said. – © 2021 NewsCentral Media
