A consortium led by global wind and solar company Mainstream Renewable Power, based in Ireland, has been 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.

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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.

"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 €100 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."

(CD/IT)