Koruson 2 cluster brings 520MW of wind and solar to South African mines

Envusa Energy, the joint venture between Anglo American and EDF power solutions, now has its 520MW Koruson 2 wind and solar cluster fully running, supplying Valterra Platinum and two other mining customers over Eskom’s grid.

Some R16 billion has gone into the 520MW Koruson 2 cluster on the border of the Eastern and Northern Cape, where roughly 50 wind turbines and about 420,000 solar panels now supply mining customers through Eskom’s transmission network, according to Envusa Energy, which developed it.

The Mooi Plaats solar PV plant in the Northern Cape provides 240MW of the total and two 140MW wind farms in the Eastern Cape, Umsobomvu and Hartebeesthoek, provide the other 280MW, all of them connected to the Koruson 400kV main transmission substation. Hartebeesthoek, which runs Nordex N163/5.X turbines, was the last to finish, reaching commercial operation at 130MW in August with its final 10MW due the following month, and reports at the end of October described the cluster as fully operational.

Valterra Platinum takes 461MW of the output, with 48MW going to De Beers’ Venetia mine and 11MW to Kumba Iron Ore’s Kolomela mine, each under a 20-year agreement with Envusa, a licensed electricity trader. Envusa expects the three generators to abate about 2.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, some 640,000 tonnes of it at Hartebeesthoek.

Pele Green Energy and the Winds of Change Community Trust are shareholders in the projects alongside Anglo American and EDF power solutions, and about R20 million has gone into socio-economic programmes across the cluster, with more than 200 jobs created at Hartebeesthoek during construction. The projects were awarded in October 2021 and reached commercial and financial close in February 2024.

“The completion of Koruson 2 shows that this model works,” Nicole Mason, Envusa Energy’s chief executive, said when Hartebeesthoek began operating. The joint venture already has a further 340MW of wind under way, with financial close targeted for the first quarter of 2027 and commercial operation for 2029, as part of its plan to develop 3GW to 5GW of wind, solar and battery storage across Southern Africa by 2030.

Images: EDF