Mark Howard, Deputy Editor of African Energy, had an insightful conversation with NOA’s CEO, Karel Cornelissen, in June at the 2024 Africa Energy Forum in Barcelona, Spain.

The interview started with a discussion of NOA’s founding story, highlighting the leadership team’s deep experience in developing energy solutions with a consumer-first approach. This unique strategy not only attracted significant investment from Africa Infrastructure Investment Management (AIIM), with $180m invested to date, but also sets NOA apart in South Africa’s competitive energy sector.

Expanding on this, Karel emphasized that NOA’s consumer/client-centric approach, which focuses on meeting client needs rather than simply offering standardised energy solutions, is the company’s key competitive advantage. Although NOA already offers shorter tenor contracts to clients than those offered by traditional independent power producers (IPPs) – as short as three-years, Karel revealed that NOA is poised to further innovate by soon offering one year contracts that don’t require any security.

The discussion then moved onto NOA’s 350MW Khauta Solar PV and storage plant under development near Welkom, in the Free State, close to some of South Africa’s major gold mines. Using Khauta as a reference, Karel provided an overview of NOA’s competitive pricing, which is driven by its hybrid model that leverages both its own generating facilities, and energy sourced from leading IPPs, ensuring economies of scale and high energy availability for clients.

In closing, Karel outlined NOA’s future plans, stating that NOA will continue to lead with a consumer-first mindset while playing a significant role in expanding South Africa’s renewable energy capacity. NOA aims to be a major contributor to the country’s need for over 150 GW of renewable energy by 2050, striving to bring 5GW of capacity online in coming years.