Mulilo Energy, a green energy company chaired by Jan Oberholzer, a former chief operating officer (COO) of South Africa’s state-run power utility Eskom, has been selected as the preferred bidder for four major battery storage projects in the Free State, South Africa.

The announcement was made on May 30 by Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, who called Mulilo a “great South African success story”, as reported by News24.

Mulilo was founded in 2008 by property developer Johnny Cullum and racing driver Chris Aberdein, after a chance conversation about power outages, locally called load shedding. Both founders remain on the company’s board.

Out of five battery energy storage contracts announced by Ramokgopa four were awarded to Mulilo, representing an investment of ZAR7bn ($391mn), and one to Norwegian independent power producer (IPP) Scatec.

This continues Mulilo’s strong track record of December 2023 when the company won five of the eight projects in the second round of battery storage procurement. The company was also involved in three of the four successful projects in the first round.

CEO Jan Fourie said Mulilo’s growth accelerated after a majority stake was acquired by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) in July 2023. CIP is the world’s largest renewable energy fund manager. “We’ve grown from 43 staff at the time of the transaction to 163 now and we’re still growing,” said Fourie.

Mulilo operates exclusively in South Africa, developing solar and wind farms as well as battery storage. The company is also finalising funding for ZAR32bn ($1.7bn) worth of additional projects, including the five battery projects from the second procurement round and a solar project from the government’s seventh renewables bid round.

Furthermore, Mulilo is currently building the three battery projects from the first round, alongside three solar farms and a wind farm for private clients. It also operates two wind farms and three solar farms.

Ramokgopa expressed concern about over-reliance on one developer, but said, “At the same time, you can’t penalise a company for being competitive.” Fourie acknowledged the risk, noting, “If the majority of projects are awarded to one developer and they underperform, it risks undermining the entire green energy programme.” He suggested that the government should act more quickly to penalise underperformance, using developer guarantees more effectively. Ramokgopa confirmed that such enforcement had recently improved.

These awards are part of the government’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which made provision for 1,744 MW of battery storage. This was the final round under the current IRP. A new plan is expected to be approved by the end of next month, after which more projects can be procured.

Battery storage will help use the grid more efficiently, allowing more wind and solar energy to connect. It also enables excess daytime solar power to be stored for use during morning and evening peaks, reducing reliance on expensive diesel-powered gas turbines.

According to Ramokgopa, current prices for battery storage are 40% lower than round one and 8% lower than round two. The minister expects construction to begin after commercial agreements are completed by January 2026, with the projects operational by January 2028.