By Wendell Roelf
CAPE TOWN, March 29 (Reuters) - South African construction firm Group Five will construct a 5 billion rand ($728 million) solar power plant to supply mines, with the first power expected to flow in two years time, a company official said.
'We hope to be producing power in 2013 when it starts to come on line,' Greg Heale, director of engineering and construction told Reuters on the sidelines of an African refinery conference on Tuesday.
Heale said Group Five, South Africa's fourth-largest construction firm, expected to conclude all contractual arrangements, including off-take agreements, with mining companies within the next six months. He declined to name the mining firms.
The project, to be located in the sun-drenched Northern Cape province, would see construction of a 150 megawatt first phase, although the plant could be upgraded to 450-500 MW, Teale said.
Africa's largest economy is moving away from an over-reliance of dirty coal power, which supplies more than 90 percent of the country's energy needs, to cleaner energy sources such as solar, wind and nuclear.
South Africa could produce its first solar power from a proposed $21 billion dollar solar park by 2012, eventually supplying 5,000 MW of power.
The country wants to accelerate its renewable energy programme to meet a target of producing 10,000 gigawatt hours by 2013.
Shares in Group Five traded 0.65 percent higher at 26.47 rand by 1059 GMT, outpacing a 0.5 percent firmer JSE all-Share index.
Last month, Group Five said diluted headline earnings per share (EPS) for the six months to end-December fell 21 percent to 198 cents, compared with 249 cents in the same period a year earlier.
The group said its total secured construction order book stood at 9.3 billion rand, little changed from the end of June.
The South African construction industry, which avoided the worst of the global economic crisis due to big projects ahead of the 2010 World Cup, is now having difficulty finding new projects, as both the government and the private sector hold back on spending.
The industry is also the target of a sweeping investigation over bid-rigging by South Africa's competition watchdog.
(Editing by Gugulakhe Lourie and Jon Loades-Carter) (wendell.roelf@thomsonreuters; +27 82 893 6088)) (For more Africa cover visit: http://af.reuters.com -- To comment on this story email: SouthAfrica.Newsroom@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
CAPE TOWN, March 29 (Reuters) - South African construction firm Group Five will construct a 5 billion rand ($728 million) solar power plant to supply mines, with the first power expected to flow in two years time, a company official said.
'We hope to be producing power in 2013 when it starts to come on line,' Greg Heale, director of engineering and construction told Reuters on the sidelines of an African refinery conference on Tuesday.
Heale said Group Five, South Africa's fourth-largest construction firm, expected to conclude all contractual arrangements, including off-take agreements, with mining companies within the next six months. He declined to name the mining firms.
The project, to be located in the sun-drenched Northern Cape province, would see construction of a 150 megawatt first phase, although the plant could be upgraded to 450-500 MW, Teale said.
Africa's largest economy is moving away from an over-reliance of dirty coal power, which supplies more than 90 percent of the country's energy needs, to cleaner energy sources such as solar, wind and nuclear.
South Africa could produce its first solar power from a proposed $21 billion dollar solar park by 2012, eventually supplying 5,000 MW of power.
The country wants to accelerate its renewable energy programme to meet a target of producing 10,000 gigawatt hours by 2013.
Shares in Group Five traded 0.65 percent higher at 26.47 rand by 1059 GMT, outpacing a 0.5 percent firmer JSE all-Share index.
Last month, Group Five said diluted headline earnings per share (EPS) for the six months to end-December fell 21 percent to 198 cents, compared with 249 cents in the same period a year earlier.
The group said its total secured construction order book stood at 9.3 billion rand, little changed from the end of June.
The South African construction industry, which avoided the worst of the global economic crisis due to big projects ahead of the 2010 World Cup, is now having difficulty finding new projects, as both the government and the private sector hold back on spending.
The industry is also the target of a sweeping investigation over bid-rigging by South Africa's competition watchdog.
(Editing by Gugulakhe Lourie and Jon Loades-Carter) (wendell.roelf@thomsonreuters; +27 82 893 6088)) (For more Africa cover visit: http://af.reuters.com -- To comment on this story email: SouthAfrica.Newsroom@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2011 AFX News
