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AfrElec                                      RENEWABLES                                              AfrElec


       Blackrock raises Vestas stake to 5.1%





        GLOBAL           THE world’s largest fund manager now has just  company’s sustainable energy arm, told Finan-
                         over 10mn shares in the OEM, requiring Vestas  cieele Dagblad.
                         to confirm publicly that Blackrock is a major   BlackRock did not say it where it would
                         shareholder, as required by Danish law.  invest, but Financieele Dagblad said it was likely
                           Blackrock, which has $7.32 trillion under  it would back a wind farm off the Zeeland coast,
                         management, has slowly been maintaining its  near Borssele.
                         interests in Vestas in recent years. In August   In 2016, Blauwwind, which is backed by
                         2012, it held 5.04% of Vestas’ shares, while in  Royal Dutch Shell and Eneco, was awarded a
                         October 2014 its holding stood at 4.94%.  permit to build and operate two sites in the Bors-
                           With Vestas shares costing DKK838 ($128)  sele wind farm zone.
                         in Copenhagen on August 5, BlackRock’s invest-  BlackRock, which has a large amount of
                         ment in the company is worth DKK8.38bn  Dutch pension fund money under management,
                         ($1.28bn).                           said wind and solar farms are gaining in popular-
                           BlackRock has a wide exposure to the wind  ity as reliable, alternative investments.
                         sector, and at the start of 2020 led the global   The Dutch government now expects wind to
                         investor drive to invest in sustainability, declar-  provide 16% of the country’s electricity needs by
                         ing that climate risk is now investment risk.  2023.
                           It has recently increased its stake in NAS-  By that year, total offshore wind capacity will
                         DAQ-listed SolarEdge Technologies, an Isra-  have reached 4.7 GW. By 2030, total capacity will
                         el-based photovoltaic (PV) inverters supplier,  have increased further to 11 GW, which repre-
                         to 10.3%.                            sents 40% of the total demand for electricity in
                           Meanwhile, Dutch media reported this week  the Netherlands.
                         that BlackRock was considering investing in a   CrossWind, a consortium also made up of
                         Dutch offshore wind farm.            Shell and Eneco, last week said it would build its
                           The investor has already invested $6bn in  third un-subsidised wind farm in the Dutch area
                         sustainable energy projects and an investment  of the North Sea, developing a 750-MW project
                         of over €1bn in a Dutch project is now being  that would also include storage and hydrogen
                         looked at, Freek Spoorenberg, head of the  production.™






       Eskom floats 320MW battery storage tender





        SOUTH AFRICA     ESKOM has floated a tender for a battery energy   The Skaapvlei substation is near the 100-MW
                         storage system (BESS) with a minimum of 80  grid-connected Sere Wind Farm and an initial
                         MW/320 MWh usable capacity at South Africa’s  site meeting is being held by the state utility at
                         Skaapvlei substation in the Western Cape.  that wind farm on August 20, followed by a pre-
                           The scope of work includes the design, engi-  bid clarification meeting on August 27, 2020.
                         neering, supply, construction, testing and com-  Eskom said it had received financing from
                         missioning of the system along with five years of  The World Bank, the African Development
                         operations and maintenance (O&M) services at  Bank (AfDB) and the New Development Bank
                         the substation.                      towards the cost of the Eskom Investment Sup-
                           The last date for the submission of bids is Sep-  port Project (EISP) and Eskom Renewables Sup-
                         tember 11, 2020. Eskom has given seven months  port Project (ESRP) under which this battery
                         (extendable to a maximum of nine months) for  energy storage system is to be implemented.
                         the design, supply, installation and commission-  Eskom said in its 2018 long-term resource
                         ing of the BESS.                     plan that it aims to have 1,400 MWh of energy
                           The tender said eligible bidders are expected  storage capacity in order to improve system reli-
                         to purchase the bidding documents for a non-re-  ability and to integrate renewable energy facili-
                         fundable fee of ZAR3,500 ($203).     ties into its grid network.
                           Sealed bids are being invited, with Eskom   South Africa aims to diversify its energy mix
                         using international competitive procurement  and reduce coal’s 85% share of generating fuels.
                         processes using Request for Bids (RfB) – this is  Eskom is especially considering green funding to
                         in line with World Bank requirements for bor-  offset debt and to re-purpose coal plants.™
                         rowing funding.





       Week 31   06•August•2020                 www. NEWSBASE .com                                              P9
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