A consortium led by global wind and solar company Mainstream Renewable Power was today awarded Preferred Bidder status by the Department of Energy in South Africa for three large-scale wind energy projects in the Northern Cape with a total generation capacity of 360 megawatts. The award was made under the third round of the South African Government’s Renewable Energy Procurement Programme. A Mainstream consortium was also awarded 238 megawatts of wind and solar projects in the first round of the programme in 2011 and the three projects are on track to be fully operational in mid-2014.

The projects, which represent an investment of approximately ZAR 9 billion, are expected to reach Financial Close by August next year and commence construction shortly thereafter.

Commenting on the announcement, Eddie O’Connor, Chief Executive of Mainstream Renewable Power said: “The team here in Mainstream is delighted with our success today. I understand the quality was very high; there were 93 bids submitted, only 17 were successful today and we won three of those. Mainstream is now the leading developer of renewable energy in South Africa; we have three wind and solar projects due to be operational in the coming months and now a further three large-scale wind farms due to start construction next year. More than five years ago Mainstream identified the future potential of the South African market and we are delighted that the quality of our projects and the experience of our team has been recognised today.

He continued: I congratulate the South African government for putting in place a process which is truly world-class and for the superb manner in which it has been executed. This win underpins Mainstream’s long-term commitment to working with partners to bring the benefits of renewable energy, not only to South Africa but to the continent of Africa.

This marks an extraordinarily successful time for Mainstream globally. This month we closed a EUR100 million equity investment with Japanese Trading House Marubeni Corporation, we signed a ground-breaking deal with Actis in Chile to build 600MW of wind and solar projects by 2016; more than 500 private landowners have signed up for our 5,000MW wind export project in Ireland and IKEA purchased our Carrickeeny wind farm in Ireland.”

The wind farms awarded under this round are:

• The      140MW Khobab Wind Farm located in the District Municipality of Namakwa in      the Northern Cape.
• The      140MW Loeriesfontein 2 Wind Farm located in the District Municipality of      Namakwa in the Northern Cape.
• The 80MW Noupoort Wind      Farm located in the Local Municipality of Umsobomvu in the Northern Cape.

The equity members of the consortium consist of:

• Thebe      Investment Corporation; one of South Africa’s most established broad based      BEE Investment management companies (advised by Bridge Capital).
• The      IDEAS Managed Fund, managed by Old Mutual Investment Group, one of      Africa’s largest independent investment managers.
• Futuregrowth      Asset Management, a leading investor in developmental assets.
• Genesis      Eco-Energy in partnership with Lereko Metier Sustainable Capital. Genesis      Eco Energy is a pioneering South African renewable energy developer which      has been active in South Africa since 2001. Lereko Metier Sustainable      Capital is a clean technology private equity fund with exposure to      projects in round 1 and 2 of the renewable energy programme.
• Local      Community Members.
• Mainstream Renewable      Power.

The debt for the projects has been arranged and underwritten by Barclays, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and EKF the Danish export credit agency.

About Mainstream Renewable Power

Mainstream Renewable Power is one of the world’s leading independent developers of renewable energy projects. With a development pipeline of over 19GW globally it is currently constructing solar and wind farms across Ireland, South Africa, Chile and Canada.

As Europe’s leading independent offshore wind developer Mainstream is developing just under 8GW of offshore wind projects in England, Scotland and Germany with 4.45GW of secured grid connection for these offshore projects.

It employs more than 180 experienced staff across four continents with offices in Berlin, Cape Town, Chicago, Dublin, Glasgow, Johannesburg, London, Santiago and Toronto.