Tronox has entered into a long-term power purchase agreement with the South African independent power producer, SOLA Group, to provide 200 MW of solar power to Tronox’s mines and smelters in South Africa. Tronox said in a statement that it anticipates the project to be fully implemented by the fourth quarter of 2023. 

The KZN Sands Fairbreeze mine and Central Processing Complex in Empangeni stand to benefit from this agreement, as well as the company’s Namakwa Sands Northern Operations and the Namakwa Sands Smelter in the Western Cape.

The SOLA Group is a 100% South African owned vertically integrated independent power producer which offers renewable energy solutions to the private and public sector in Southern Africa. Since 2008, SOLA has pioneered the first large commercial solar projects, both on and off grid, first electricity wheeling projects and now with Tronox, the first large scale utility projects for private consumers.

This is only one example of numerous projects and investments being pursued by Tronox to meet its publicly announced goal to align with a global warming scenario below 2°C and achieve net zero Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2050.

‘Tronox’s renewable energy project with SOLA Group will reduce our global carbon emissions by approximately 13%, compared to our 2019 baseline, and has the full support of our Board of Directors and senior management,’ commented Melissa Zona, Tronox Holdings plc’s Senior Vice President, External Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer.

‘Tronox’s renewable energy project with SOLA Group will reduce our global carbon emissions by approximately 13%, compared to our 2019 baseline, and has the full support of our Board of Directors and senior management. This is yet another example of how Tronox is committed to being a leader when it comes to corporate sustainability and protection of the environment.’ Melissa Zona, Tronox Holdings PLC’s Senior Vice President, External Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer

In the past 18 months, Tronox has taken a number of significant steps  that demonstrate this leadership:

• Restructuring its Board to designate a committee with specific responsibility for oversight of Environmental Social Governance; including annual carbon emission reduction targets in our executive compensation plan;
• Publicly announcing a detailed roadmap for reducing emissions, including a target to reduce emissions by 15% by the fourth quarter of 2025; and,
• Committing to being fully aligned to both Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) reporting for 2021.

The execution of the agreements comes at a time when South Africa is in need of extra capacity to be added to its electricity network.

‘We are delighted to see that large scale energy consumers like Tronox are making use of the opportunity to convert to clean and cost effective energy,’ Chris Haw, Director and co-founder at the SOLA Group, said in the media statement.

‘These types of projects are the fastest way to bring new generation capacity online and not only contribute to closing the electricity supply gap in our country, but also support the much needed transition to clean energy and modernisation of our electricity grid.’

Switching from coal-based to renewable power in South Africa is just one way Tronox is implementing innovative technologies and best practices at its operating sites to protect our land, water, air and ecosystems and operate more sustainably.

Tronox is also investing in fundamental research and development to improve its feedstock upgrading and TiO2 production technologies to reduce emissions and developing tangible projects to reduce the amount of solid waste generated and water consumed.

Tronox strives to establish itself as a role model for Environmental Social Governance in the mining and chemical sector. Through continued investment in emission reduction projects, Tronox is strengthening its commitment to sustainability in clear and tangible ways.