Africa GreenCo targets 200 MW in renewable energy trades this year

Africa GreenCo aims to enable 200 Megawatts (MW) worth of trades this year, according to Precious Mpepele, the Commercial Manager at Africa GreenCo.

The company is the only regional buyer and trader of renewable energy in Southern Africa with current operations in South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It will be extending its operations to include Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.

GreenCo provides customized Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for independent power producers and bespoke solutions for corporate off-takers. Their expertise lies in forecasting energy production and in trading, along with their involvement in the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), ensures a reliable and stable energy supply for clients with over 1 terawatt-hours (TWh) traded. A terawatt-hour is equal to one trillion watts for one hour.

Eskom is expanding its regional power sales as it now has an excess of power and in 2025 increased its electricity exports by 10.3% to 14 927 gigawatt-hours (GWh). A gigawatt-hour is equal to one billion watt-hours or one million kilowatt-hours.

GreenCo’s import/export license granted by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) allows it to establish crucial links between South Africa’s electricity market and the SAPP, so that in times of drought, when hydropower is constrained, it can help to export surplus wind and solar power from South Africa to the neighbouring countries. Conversely, when dams are full it can then export cheap 24-hour hydropower to South Africa from dams such as Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa.

The importance of regional collaboration in building robust and interconnected energy markets, thus supporting the sustainable development of the region, as well as economic growth through regional derisking was highlighted by the current threat of South32’s Mozal aluminium smelter in Maputo Mozambique being put on care and maintenance from next month. This would affect 15% of Mozambique’s exports and threaten some 25,000 direct and indirect jobs.

“I worked previously for South32, so I know personally the importance of cheap reliable electricity for industrial production. That is why I am so passionate about working at GreenCo and what we can do to enable green energy to be traded across borders. You have to remember that in terms of projects coming on stream in the next five years you have 22 Gigawatts (GW) of capacity, split between 15 GW solar and 7 GW wind. The frequency of load shedding and the new copper mines coming on stream means that we have a sellers’ market as demand exceeds supply. We can assist with our real-time trading system that trades energy in hourly segments,” Mpepele said.

BUSINESS REPORT