According to a report this week by Business Day, Johannesburg, South Africa, SAPPI has been selected as preferred bidder of the Ngodwana energy biomass project in the fourth window of the South African government’s renewable energy independent power producer program.

The forestry, paper, and chemical cellulose maker’s 25 MW biomass project will be built at the group’s Ngodwana mill in Mpumalanga, using biomass supplied from local plantations. It will feed electricity into the national grid near Mbombela, formerly Nelspruit. Sappi said the value added by the project was significantly higher than alternate renewable energy technologies. It said the project value chain included collecting biomass, plant, and equipment contracts, and community development benefits through the trusts.

 

 

 

Sappi Southern Africa CEO Alex Thiel said on Tuesday that Sappi would continue to focus on extracting maximum value from the renewable wood fiber that it grows. He added that the new project built on the group’s earlier R 3 billion investment at Ngodwana mill to make chemical cellulose, which is widely used in textiles, pharmaceuticals, and cigarette filters. The group has long been diversifying out of globally declining fine coated paper markets as a result of internet publishing.