Chariot Transitional Energy announced that it has formed a new joint venture with a 25% interest in a new South African electricity trading company, Etana Energy, which has been granted an electricity trading license by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).
South Africa is the largest electricity market on the continent but has regular power outages due to insufficient supply. To combat this energy crisis rapid market deregulation is currently taking place, which includes selectively issuing electricity trading licenses and facilitating the build of energy projects of up to 100 MW generation capacity.
Etana’s objective is to deliver unique renewable energy mix solutions at competitive prices to help address the significant power requirements across South Africa with the license opening up access to a range of high-volume off-takers including municipal, industrial and retail customers.
This trading license gives the right to buy and sell electricity on the national transmission grid and within some selected municipal areas.
Electricity trading could bring an additional revenue stream into Chariot and could enable Chariot’s future participation in large renewable projects in Southern Africa.
Etana is owned indirectly by Chariot (25%), the Neura Group (49%), H1 Holdings (21%) and Meadows Energy (5%). The Partners have extensive relevant experience in the electricity market in South Africa. Chariot, H1 Holdings and Meadows Energy have a proven track record in developing and investing in large renewable projects in Africa, whilst Neura has developed a unique hardware and software-based technology specifically designed for the trading in the South African environment. In addition to this Etana is the first empowered trading company in South Africa.
Benoit Garrivier, Chariot Transitional Power CEO commented: “As one of the largest energy markets in Africa opens up, our trading platform will provide the opportunity to enhance and revolutionize the energy mix across South Africa by supplying greener power for commercial and industrial requirements. In forming this joint venture we see a great opportunity to expand our footprint of renewable projects in the country whilst also developing another revenue stream as the private electricity market in South Africa grows. We look forward to working alongside our partners to progress the next steps of growth across this platform and delivering much needed power across the national grid.”