- South African independent power producer, SOLA Group, has announced that Dom Wills has opted to step down as CEO effective March 2024.
- The company has appointed three new Managing Directors effective 1 March 2024, to lead the pioneering IPP through 2024 and beyond.
Dom has been in this role since 2018 when the group consolidated the engineering and construction company SOLA Future Energy and project development company Aurora Power Solutions under the SOLA Group brand. In this time, SOLA has transitioned to being a leading player in the 1MW embedded solar PV market, to growing into a utility solar independent power producer servicing the private market with over 600 MW of solar PV projects in construction and operations. Dom will continue to serve on the Board of Directors at SOLA Group in a full time executive role.
With the business’ vertically integrated structure, the board has appointed three individuals to Managing Director positions in separate portfolios who will each report directly to the board. Katherine Persson has been appointed Managing Director: Assets. She will oversee Project Development, Project Finance, Asset Management and the Group Sustainability and Human Resources teams. Dr Ian Burger has been promoted to Managing Director: Technical, where he will oversee the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Operations aspects of the Group. Jonathan Skeen has been appointed as Managing Director: Commercial, and he will be responsible for Business Development and Group Finance.
Each of the three Managing Directors have deep industry knowledge and expertise, having each been involved in the implementation and delivery of industry-leading projects over many years. Notable projects include: Project Springbok, a 195 megawatt DC (MW)multi-buyer solar PV plant (the first to sell power to multiple buyers across the country on flexible terms); the Adams wheeling project (the first large-scale renewable wheeling plant in the country, selling to Amazon); and the 386 MW Lichtenburg wheeling cluster, delivering 256 MW to Tronox (under the largest corporate PPA in Africa) and 130 MW to African Rainbow Minerals.
This change in leadership has been implemented in the context of rapid growth in the renewables industry in South Africa and the increasing complexity and opportunity across SOLA’s vertically integrated value chain, which spans the development, financing, design, construction, operation and ownership of renewable energy assets.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
