Discovery Green platform will link, build renewable generation for business demands

The newly launched Discovery Green platform will link renewable energy production with business demands with the aim to create an aggregated, diversified and reliable energy marketplace.

It will provide enrolled businesses with renewable energy by 2026, enabling them to significantly reduce their emissions and helping to address the national shortfall in electricity generation.

The company aims to procure between 400 MW and 1 GW as part of this platform and is on track to start construction early next year, Discovery Green head André Nepgen revealed at the launch of the platform on September 6.

“By procuring between 400 MW and 1 GW of wind and solar energy from a curated list of local and international independent power producers, the platform will stimulate an investment of approximately R20-billion to R25-billion in the energy infrastructure of the country, or enough to establish 2 700 rugby fields of solar farms or 200 to 250 wind turbines,” he said.

The renewable energy platform will use wheeling, with energy generated at the most efficient locations in the country and wheeled to a business through the existing national grid, thereby allowing businesses to use more affordable renewable energy.

The platform benefits from aggregation, modelling and diversification to provide renewable, reliable and affordable energy, Nepgen highlighted.

“The problem with renewable energy is that the generation profile is resource dependent, but businesses consume energy in the way that they need it, with different patterns and seasonal changes, as well as changing business needs.

“This mismatch is what we are trying to solve with Discovery Green. By combining business energy demand profiles from different industries and diverse hotspots where the energy is generated, we can reduce many of the challenges around renewables.”

Combining demand creates more potential for businesses to use renewable energy and, as the platform adds more diversification in the form of generation and users, it can use the dynamics to offer low-risk renewable energy to businesses.

Similarly, the platform will also have a diversified renewable energy generation footprint, helping it to offset variability of individual plants by wheeling power from others.

The platform has a dedicated service team in place that will also work with businesses to onboard them and adjustments can be made when a business's needs change, he said.

Additionally, 1 GW in renewable energy generation represents a saving of 2.75-million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, Nepgen noted.

“The primary source of emissions for most non-industrial or mining businesses is from electricity generation and, on average, electricity accounts for 80% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions combined.

“Further, achieving a reduction in emissions is challenging because onsite generation such as rooftop solar only has minimal gains and cannot provide sufficient energy for the business.”

The platform will have two core products. The Green Saver product is for companies that want to maximise the amount of renewable energy they consume and the financial savings they receive from more affordable renewable energy.

It will help businesses to use up to, on average, 70% renewable energy, thereby maximising the cost reductions for energy as well as maximising their use of renewable energy while providing reliability.

Meanwhile, the Green Guarantee product will provide companies with 100% renewable energy each month at the same cost as State-owned Eskom's rates, with savings into the future. The product is limited in its availability and aimed at companies with a strong environmental commitment by helping them to achieve net-zero goals.

In the initial phase, the platform will only be open to businesses that are medium to large consumers of electricity and have sites that are connected to Eskom's distribution infrastructure.

The first businesses enrolled to the service include a network of large Discovery corporate partners. However, over time, the platform will expand to other clients in South Africa as virtual wheeling and new wheeling frameworks through municipalities become available, said Nepgen.

Meanwhile, the platform was developed with the support of Discovery’s investment banking partner RMB. RMB’s team of industry experts will apply their extensive experience and oversight to help minimise risk associated with all aspects of plant development, funding, construction and ongoing management, he added.