- Renewable energy developer Red Rocket has reached financial close on its flagship 300 MW Tournee Solar Park, a R5.2-billion project set to reshape South Africa’s clean energy landscape.
- The solar photovoltaic (PV) facility will be constructed on land leased from Eskom near the Tutuka coal-fired power station, with completion expected in late 2027.
The Tournee Solar Park marks a historic milestone as the first and only project to emerge from Eskom’s 2022 land lease initiative, which aimed to unlock grid-ready sites for Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The initiative, championed by former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and introduced under President Cyril Ramaphosa’s energy crisis response plan, made land Eskom land available near some of iots coal power stations.
While Eskom has since discontinued the land lease scheme, it is pivoting toward a new standalone renewables business, Eskom Green, which aims to build 2 GW of renewable capacity by 2026 and scale up to 6 GW by 2030. The utility is also entertaining bids from large power users for solar electricity from projects totalling 291 MW, though concerns have been raised about potential grid-access rule bypasses.
Rivoningo Mnisi, Eskom’s Group Executive for Renewables, praised Red Rocket’s achievement: “This milestone exemplifies the potential of public-private collaboration to add generation capacity and accelerate South Africa’s transition to cleaner energy.”
“This project is a testament to the power of collaboration between public and private sectors,” said Red Rocket CEO Matteo Brambilla. “We are proud to be the first and only IPP to bring a project from Eskom’s innovative land lease initiative to life.”
The Tournee Solar Park is being financed through a club deal involving ABSA, Standard Bank, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Discovery Green, the electricity trading arm of the JSE-listed Discovery Group, will serve as the project’s off-taker, supplying wheeled green electricity to businesses across the country.
Construction of the Tournee Solar Park is expected to span 24 months, with commercial operations slated for the fourth quarter of 2027.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
