Proudly Sponsoring Africa's Green Economy SummitSanlam Investments

Sanlam Investments recently financed the construction and operation of the 128MW Oya Energy Hybrid Facility, a ground-breaking greenfield project which combines solar and wind energy, complemented by a battery energy storage system, as a single dispatchable renewable energy power plant.

Oya Energy is the largest hybrid energy project of its kind on the continent and is strategically located on the border of the Northern and Western Cape provinces in South Africa, an area of the country with a high concentration of solar resources and ample wind resources. The combination of these technologies, located on a single project site, allows the power plant to produce energy continuously even after sunset or when the wind is not blowing, effectively functioning similarly to a baseload power plant. The project was developed by a local project developer, G7 Renewable Energies in partnership with Engie, one of the largest Independent Power Producers globally.

155MW of Solar Photovoltaic (“ Solar PV”) capacity, 86.4MW of wind capacity and 92MW battery storage capacity will be installed and operated by an automated plant controller, to create a single power plant also known as a virtual power plant. Solar PV will supply the bulk of the renewable energy during the day, supplemented by wind energy, while the battery storage system will be Case studies by our Netherlands-based climate partner, Climate Fund Managers

We believe that green hydrogen is both the pathway and the solution to the global energy transition; and that Southern Africa combines deep technical and capital markets with world-class conditions for generating renewable electricity through solar and wind power, key drivers in the production of green hydrogen. However, the ultimate enabler is blended finance; it is the bridge to making it all come together. charged by excess solar PV generation during the day and wind generation in the evening and early morning.

In November 2022, CFM launched SDG Namibia One Fund, a €1-billion blended financing vehicle for green hydrogen investment in Namibia, created in partnership with Environmental Investment Fund, owned by the Namibian government, and Invest International from the Netherlands. In December 2023, the fund and Hyphen Hydrogen Energy concluded a share-subscription agreement, backed by €23 million in development funding, after which the fund will take up a 24% stake in Namibia’s green hydrogen project.

Hyphen will be developed on 4,000km² of land in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park. It is Namibia’s first fully vertically integrated GW-scale green hydrogen project and the largest green hydrogen production project in Sub-Saharan Africa. After the completion of Phases 1 and 2, it will produce two million tonnes a year of green ammonia, a hydrogen derivative that is easier to transport, from 7GW of predominantly wind and solar renewable energy and 3GW of electrolyser capacity. It will avoid an estimated five to six million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.

The Hyphen project is expected to be a catalyst for economic growth in Namibia and will turn the country’s green hydrogen ambitions into reality.