New energy producer enters SA

Former Massmart chief executive Grant Pattison has become the executive chairman of the local arm of NRG Energy, the New York Stock Exchange-listed company that intends to take advantage of South Africa’s problems with power.

NRG is a provider of diverse conventional, distributed and renewable energy solutions in the US, which yesterday announced its entry into the South African market.

Pattison, whose base qualification is in electrical engineering, said yesterday that there was already engagement with the local industry and he expected the first kilowatt of power from the NRG systems to come on to the grid this year.

NRG in the US occupies mostly the renewable energy space through a diverse offering of solar, wind, nuclear, gas, coal or photovoltaic power. The company will offer tailored energy solutions to local companies.

NRG will leverage the strength of NRG Renew’s technical, operational and financial skills and resources to develop and commercialise the independent power producer (IPP) purchase agreement market in South Africa.

Pattison said the NRG would locally offer hybrid solutions, which would be a mix of wind, solar or photovoltaic energy generation, as well as micro-grid solutions, entailing the building of power generation plants specifically for companies and to run a mini-grid.

Pattison would not reveal the extent of the investment NRG would put into the South African operation or how many jobs were expected to be created. “Electricity is not just about price, there is a whole mix to it,” he said.

The main target market for NRG would be manufacturing industries and multinational companies suffering production losses because of inefficient grid issues.

He said everyone with a large roof was a potential client or partner to NRG.

NRG comes with three generation strategies that will also assist with acquiring more power for the national grid. These are the licensing of power generators; metering, which involves selling excess capacity to Eskom; and wheeling, in which a larger plant sells excess capacity to another utility’s area.

NRG Energy is a Fortune 250 company and the largest IPP in the US, with an installed base of more than 52 gigawatts of power, with 4.2GW from renewable sources, and annual revenues of $11 billion (R132bn).

As the executive chairman of the South African business, Pattison will be responsible for leading the formation of the business and developing market strategies.