New company offers South African businesses cheaper electricity

Discovery Green, a Discovery Limited business, in partnership with Sasol, launched Ampli Energy, a month-to-month renewable energy product.

Ampli Energy gives South African businesses of all sizes immediate access to green energy at scale through the national grid.

With monthly savings, no upfront costs, and flexible, penalty-free cancellation, Ampli Energy provides a solution for businesses looking to reduce emissions and lower their electricity costs.

“Renewable energy has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by businesses adopting on-site electricity generation through solar technology,” said Andre Nepgen, Head of Discovery Green.

“While this has been beneficial, many businesses lack the capital and land space for on-site installations to meet most of their electricity consumption needs.”

Wheeling, where electricity is generated at wind and solar farms in resource-rich parts of the country and delivered to businesses through the national grid, changes the game.

It enables businesses to access renewable energy through their existing electricity connection, eliminating the need for additional infrastructure investment.

Until now, securing a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) and wheeling energy has been limited to large-scale energy users, like mines.

This is because they have the capital, scale and long-term energy outlook needed to negotiate complex power purchase agreements.

Ampli Energy is changing that. Through simple, month-to-month membership, any business across South Africa can now replace the majority of its electricity with renewable energy.

This energy is already flowing through the national grid, reducing carbon emissions without upfront capital requirements, installations or long-term contracts.

Ampli Energy further pays businesses to run on renewable energy, with monthly cashbacks paid directly into their bank accounts.

“Ampli Energy builds on the wheeling platform of Discovery Green to unlock access to renewable energy for businesses that need it most,” said Nepgen.

Together, Discovery Green and Sasol have committed over 450 MWh per annum of renewable energy generation capacity to Ampli Energy.

This represents a R1.8 billion to R2.5 billion investment which will be delivered to businesses in tranches.

“The launch of Ampli marks a strategic shift where Sasol moves beyond being a major energy consumer to an aggregator and trader of renewable electrons,” Sasol’s Sarushen Pillay said.

Sasol President and CEO Simon Baloyi said the launch of Ampli Energy marks the beginning of a new model for delivering green power to a wider market.

The first tranche of renewable energy capacity is fully subscribed, with a growing number of businesses, including Nando’s, NetFlorist, Hatfield Motors, and Sealand Gear.

Selected Sasol garages and several NGOs, such as Reach for a Dream and Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Hospital, have also signed up.

Ampli launch photos