Seriti Green signs a further R10 billion as Ummbila Emoyeni starts commercial supply
President Cyril Ramaphosa officiates at Bethal in Mpumalanga today as the first 155MW enters operation. Chief executive Peter Venn told ENN that two further phases have reached financial close and are under construction, with partners including Goldwind and Etana behind the latest investment.
At Bethal in Mpumalanga today, President Cyril Ramaphosa officiates the start of commercial operations at the Ummbila Emoyeni wind energy facility. Three years after the investment commitment was announced at the South African Investment Conference, the first 155MW is supplying the grid.
The build is already running ahead of that. Speaking to ENN, Seriti Green chief executive Peter Venn said a further R10 billion of investment was signed on Wednesday, with partners including Goldwind and Etana. The next two phases have reached financial close and are under construction.
Completed, the development is planned to exceed 900MW across seven phases, with 750MW of wind and 150MW of solar alongside 800MWh of battery storage. It is the country’s first majority Black-owned wind farm and the first wind facility in Mpumalanga, built in the province that generates most of South Africa’s coal power. Venn said a substantial volume of storage is already permitted and in the programme, with construction starting within the next 12 to 18 months, and that storage will play a large part in the energy future of South Africa and particularly of Mpumalanga.
The financing has moved at unusual pace. Three phases totalling 465MW reached financial close inside two years, the first in 2024 and two more across August and October 2025, with Standard Bank and RMB leading. Standard Bank chief executive Sim Tshabalala said the lender backs Seriti Green because it is “delivering real, bankable projects aligned with South Africa’s energy and economic priorities”.
Getting the power out has required its own build. Venn pointed to the R1.2 billion Vunumoya grid infrastructure, delivered working closely with Eskom, as the piece of work that made additional capacity available. A third of the electricity powers Seriti Resources’ coal mines, decarbonising one of the country’s most energy-intensive operations, while the remaining two thirds is traded through the NOA Group and the Energy Exchange of Southern Africa to businesses and households.
Asked what the next phases change, Venn returned to the terms the company has set for itself. “Our priority is to deliver that growth safely, most importantly, while keeping the ‘just’ in the Just Energy Transition absolutely central to our mission, through local jobs, skills, enterprise and community development.”
