Renewable Power
Providing competitive, sustainable and reliable power solutions across Africa
ETANA ELECTRICITY TRADING LICENCE
LARGE SCALE
RENEWABLE GENERATION PROJECTS
PROGRESSING RENEWABLE POWER PIPELINE
ELECTRICITY TRADING LICENCE
- Etana Energy, in which Chariot holds an economic interest of 34% along with H1 Holdings (Pty) Limited (“H1”) (economic interest (36%)), Norfund (economic interest (20%)) and Standard Bank (economic interest (10%)), is focused on providing competitive, sustainable end-to-end energy solutions through the connecting of power generation projects to commercial and industrial users by aggregating and wheeling electricity across South Africa’s national grid.
- H1, which co-founded Etana along with Chariot, is a black-owned and managed company based in South Africa, which has a proven track record in developing and investing in large renewable projects.
- Etana has developed a “many generators to many offtakers” business model and is effectively building a new utility business as it looks to supply competitively priced, cleaner power to some of South Africa’s largest commercial and industrial users.
- Over 20 long-term Power Purchase Agreements (“PPAs”) have been signed with some of the largest electricity consumers in country including Growthpoint, Autocast, Petra Diamonds, Tharisa and the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town and work is ongoing in signing further offtake PPAs.
- The offtake of the initial generation is already oversubscribed by 50% and this is indicative of the high demand and future growth potential.
- As well as providing well-priced power, the ability to harness wind both day and night to complement solar energy output offers a reliable path to much needed sustainable supply for energy-intensive businesses.
- Through this platform Chariot is tapping into a wide and essential network, one that could become one of the most influential businesses in facilitating, installing, and delivering greener, competitive and sustainable energy across South Africa’s national grid over the next decade.
- This business connects efficient supply to end users through the trading platform but it also enables the development of new, renewable energy generation, in which the Power business is also participating.
ETANA FINANCING
- In December 2024 Etana secured US$100 million in guarantee finance from BII and GuarantCo, which served to validate Etana’s business model and was an important first stage of the financing process. Subsequently, in March 2024, Etana secured a further US$75 million in guarantee financing and equity investments from Standard Bank and Norfund. This further underpinned the balance sheet and will provide working capital to enable future growth.
- This equity means that Etana is now fully funded through to first revenues. The guarantee financing will enable the development of major generation projects as it means generators can get a competitive price for their electricity from a bankable business which in turn allows them to project finance and build new large wind and solar projects with certainty that they will be paid.
- The first of these projects was the 75MW Du Plessis Dam PV2 solar project which reached financial close in March 2025 and is being constructed by Mulilo, one of South Africa’s largest independent power producers. Etana has signed its first 20-year PPA for the entire offtake.
GENERATION PROJECTS
- As with the trading business, participation in future generation projects offers long-term growth potential and in taking equity stakes in generation projects, Chariot is accessing a second important revenue stream.
- With three shovel ready wind projects totalling 315MW in the initial portfolio, Chariot is working alongside a world class sponsor on these assets, and this power generation is directly linked into the offtake customers as part of Etana’s wheeling capacity.
MARKET OPPORTUNITY
South Africa’s energy market is the largest on the continent. It has historically been controlled by the state-owned entity Eskom and predominantly relied on coal as the main source of the country’s power. South Africa has experienced significant electricity supply issues for a long time with many instances of load shedding and power outages and there is a need for new energy to fill the gap as a number of coal-fired power stations are coming to end of life. There is a forecasted additional power requirement of 30GW needed by 2030 and to address the supply and demand gap, the Government has permitted private electricity generation with a focus on renewable power as a long-term energy source. Government has also granted trading licences which allows private companies to buy and sell electricity through the national grid and sell it onto customers. This wide scale deregulation created a material market opportunity and Etana was one of the first companies to apply for and receive a trading licence from NERSA, the South African regulator. Etana offers a greener energy solution and in turn, a rapidly scalable business opportunity.
“Major deregulation has been taking place in South Africa’s electricity market that now provides licence holders the opportunity to trade electricity to a range of high-volume offtakers as well as the opportunity to participate in new renewable energy generation projects.”
Benoit Garrivier
CEO Chariot Transitional Power
POWER TO MINING PROJECT PORTFOLIO
Providing low cost, low-carbon, renewable energy solutions for mining and industrial companies across Africa
- Tharisa
In partnership with Tharisa and TotalEnergies, Chariot is developing the 40MW solar PV Buffelspoort project at Tharisa’s chrome and platinum group metals mine in the north west province of South Africa and work across all project development and permitting workstreams has been ongoing.The plant, to be built on Tharisa‘s property and connected behind the meter, will contribute to the company’s goal of reducing its carbon footprint, supplying around 30% of the mine’s electricity needs and substantially reducing its dependence on coal fired power. Tharisa has also signed a 15-year PPA with Etana to provide up to a further 44% of the mine’s energy demand.
- First Quantum Minerals
Alongside TotalEnergies, Chariot is progressing the development of 430MW of combined wind and solar power to look to expand Zambia’s existing renewable energy capacity and provide First Quantum Minerals with competitive and sustainable power for its Zambian mining operations. Once completed, the combined project will be one of the largest renewable energy projects in Zambia and a flagship project in the southern Africa region.The split of power will be 230MW solar PV alongside 200MW wind, and the requisite permitting and planning is underway. Further updates will follow as this progresses towards a Final Investment Decision.
- Karo
In Zimbabwe, Chariot is working on the development of a 30MW solar plant, to supply competitive electricity on site at Karo’s platinum mine in Zimbabwe. Chariot is now partnering with Solarcentury to develop this project on a 50 / 50 basis and with Tharisa as a 75% shareholder in Karo, this is also linked to their carbon emission reduction targets.
RENEWABLE WATER BUSINESS
Chariot’s water business is focused on providing clean water solutions using renewable energy.
The process utilises a modular, scalable, reverse osmosis technology that can be powered 100% by solar energy to produce desalinated water. The objective is to originate, invest in and own decentralised water supply projects that can provide affordable and accessible water for private offtakers and municipalities through long-term offtake agreements and Chariot is seeing a growing market for these projects.
The first pilot project, the Ghoubet water desalination project which is affiliated to the largest wind farm in Djibouti was commissioned in June 2023 and continues to run smoothly. This project provides 50m3 of potable water per day to around 1,000 people in local communities and will do so for the next 18 years. This is another very scalable business model and the team is evaluating further opportunities across the continent. As with the generation projects the team are pursuing funding for this at the subsidiary level and discussions are progressing with interested parties.
Renewable energy
Desalination Technology
Portable Water Provision
