South Africa’s biggest liquid petroleum gas import facility, Sunrise Energy, is eyeing two more expansions after today officially launching its first phase today.
The Royal Bafokeng has a 30.6% stake in Sunrise Energy, which saw its first phase commissioned on May 27. The first phase was built at a cost of R1 billion.
Other key shareholders in Sunrise Energy include the Industrial Development Corporation with a 31% stake and the Public Investment Corporation with a 29.4% stake.
Sunrise Energy chief executive Pieter Coetzee said that the Sunrise facility was designed to meet liquid petroleum gas (LPG) supply, especially in the Western Cape.
The first phase will have a monthly throughput capacity of 17 500 tons of LPG a month, which should displace 400 MW of power generation, and 5500 tons of LPG storage space.
Coetzee said in July, which was the first month of operation, the Sunrise facility’s throughput was 7000 tons of LPG.
Phase two will see the monthly throughput climb to 35000 tons of LPG a month and storage space will increase to 11 000 tons.
Phase three will see a monthly throughput hiked to 52 000 tons of LPG a month, which is expected to displace 1200 MW of power, and storage space will expand to 16 500 tons.
Coetzee said there was a huge opportunity for growth in the market.
He said the only other LPG loading facilities in the country were in Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth, which is set to be moved to Coega.
The Sunrise Energy phase one construction took 16 months to complete.
During the construction phase 474 jobs were created and 1750 jobs were created in the downstream sectors.
After all Sunrise Energy three phases are completed the facility will employ 5000 people.
The Sunrise Energy facility utilises a multi-buoy mooring system, a subsea and overland pipeline, which together spans more than 5km in length, as well as storage and blending facilities.