RES Enters South African Wind Market With Acquisition of 300mw Development Portfolio

Friday, Jan 15, 2010

RES has today announced the acquisition of a portfolio of wind power projects in South Africa which marks the RES Group’s first step into this market.  These projects, which are at an early stage of development, have an estimated installed capacity of close to 300MW. They will be developed by a newly-formed fully-owned subsidiary of the RES Group, RES Southern Africa².

The RES Group has in-house expertise encompassing all aspects of renewable project development – from site prospecting to operation & maintenance – and has the skills and experience to bring these projects to successful commercial operation.

RES Southern Africa has established its office in Cape Town and has started to build the local team that will develop these projects and also assess further opportunities in the South African renewable energy market.

Stephen Balint, Strategy and Communications Director of RES Group, said;

“We are delighted to have completed this deal, which establishes a strong position for us in the market. We have identified South Africa as a substantial growth area for our business. The need to meet growing electricity demand, combined with the need to reduce carbon emissions in response to the pressures of climate change, means there is great potential to exploit the country’s abundant wind and solar energy resources.”

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Thomas Riboud, Director of RES Southern Africa, added;

“We are particularly excited to have acquired these projects and to be entering into the South African market at this time. We have been working on our strategy for this market for some time and this acquisition is the first step of many to come.  We expect the South African renewable energy market to be a very challenging environment for developers but we are fully committed to developing these projects and building a substantial portfolio in the region.”

Source: RES Group