Remgro’s Energy Exchange gets major boost

Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has acquired a 25% shareholding in Remgro’s Ubiquity Energy platform, the holding company of Energy Exchange of Southern Africa (Energy Exchange).

Energy Exchange is a NERSA-licensed electricity trader, offering corporate customers an alternative renewable source of electricity produced by independent power generators.

Remgro, which is closely linked to Johann Rupert, founded Energy Exchange after it realised that energy security in South Africa poses a threat to its investee companies.

It invested in companies specialising in photovoltaic (PV) technologies and installations to provide onsite backup power to Mediclinic, Distell, and RCL Foods.

Large and unpredictable Eskom price increases posed another challenge, and Remgro set out to create pricing certainty.

To provide energy pricing and supply security, Remgro built an energy trading platform to bring together green energy producers and electricity consumers.

It launched Energy Exchange, giving energy consumers access to a diverse supply of reliable, cost-effective renewable energy.

The latest transaction aligns with Remgro and RMB’s commitment to invest in the private power market to unlock the vast potential of South Africa’s natural renewable resources.

“As a large-scale purchaser of electricity from power generators, Energy Exchange is a key enabler in the private power landscape,” said Sindisiwe Mosoeu from RMB’s infrastructure sector.

Energy Exchange will supply a bespoke energy profile to match their unique consumption requirements.

It will be done while solving for a balance in competitive pricing, long-term price certainty and flexible contract tenors.

Energy Exchange will provide corporates with the ability to blend different sources of electricity to create a tailored energy profile.

Buyers will be able to rely on energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass and hydro, which matches their needs more accurately, rather than just relying on a single source.

Importantly, the electricity tariffs charged by Energy Exchange are competitive and escalate at inflation, providing a predictable and stable cost estimate for corporates.

Pieter Uys, strategic investments executive at Remgro, said they have been developing Energy Exchange over the last five years and have built a strong supply and demand pipeline.

“The platform offers the benefit of aggregation, allowing multiple customers to access scale benefits in procuring energy,” Uys said.

“In turn, large power generators can negotiate with a single centralised electricity buyer.”