About

The Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho imports half of its electricity from coal plants in South Africa and gas-fired plants in Mozambique. But mountainous does not mean powerless, according to Hirundo Energy. These wind energy developers have their roots in another country of almost exactly the same size: Belgium. And they have a plan for Lesotho to radically shift its energy mix with a wind farm on a ridge near the city of Mohale’s Hoek.

Lesotho is the most mountainous place in Southern Africa, and the developers zeroed in on Mohale’s Hoek as an ideal location: the mountain ridge sits 2,000 meters above sea level at the crest of a wind corridor carrying rising air from the Free State province of South Africa. This geography makes the idea of building a wind farm viable, despite the logistical challenges of developing a mountaintop project in a country where wind energy has never been harnessed to such scale.

Mohale’s Hoek Wind Farm will consist of 12 turbines with a capacity of 5 MW each. Once operational, these will generate some 140 GWh of electrical energy each year, enough to cover 15% of Lesotho’s electricity consumption. The affordable, local energy source will instigate a major shift to renewable energy without burdening the economy, as it will simply offset the need for more expensive imported power.

Our support 

Hirundo Energy has extensive expertise in the development, financing, building and operations of windfarms in Belgium. The Lesotho wind project is complex and the first of its type in the country, without prior examples to orientate on. The team started the development and feasibility studies in 2019 and identified the most suitable locations to harvest wind energy. Being the first in a country where no wind farm has been built yet, and the economic framework is to be set up from scratch, Hirundo Energy needed an experienced partner to hit the road.

In 2021, the company asked to partner with the GET.invest Finance Catalyst and began navigating the project’s complex financial aspects together. GET.invest guided Hirundo Energy in what was needed to become investment-ready, defining:

• Finance and structuring, setting up a financial model that meets the standards of potential investors and financiers, as well as introductions to potential partners.
• a Power Purchase Agreement with the national utility that is bankable: Hirundo Energy and the GET.invest advisors have held extensive negotiations with utility officials and are close to forming an agreement – all that is left is for a price to be agreed based on the coming wind measurements.
• with procuring the meteorological mast: Investors looking at wind energy projects have to see rigorous data. Hirundo Energy needs 12 uninterrupted months of wind measurements at an altitude of up to 120 meters above the ridge to satisfy this demand, requiring them to set up a meteorological mast of the necessary height, which has to be built for the harsh and sometimes icy conditions to demonstrate the site’s viability through data.
• Legal support.
• Advice on the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) which evaluates the impact of the wind farm and assesses if it is within the social and environmental boundaries.

Throughout the process, the GET.invest Finance Catalyst supported Hirundo Energy on all of these topics, either through direct support or through helping to identify suitable partners to achieve their goals.

The outcome

Having started their journey at the 2016 Windaba in Cape Town, the flagship event of the South African Wind Energy Association where the industry gathers and exchanges expertise, Hirundo returned in 2024, invited by GET.invest. On stage, the company presented the challenges of financing wind projects in Africa, showcasing their deep expertise in the sector. Hirundo Energy also seized the opportunity to hold introductory talks with wind turbine manufacturers, taking the next step in the process.

The environmental impact assessment, meteorological mast and future power purchasing agreement will all pave the way for investment. Once completed, Mohale’s Hoek Wind Farm will play a starring role in Lesotho’s more diversified energy mix, offering a steady source of renewable energy. It will immediately start to accrue savings on electricity costs by reducing dependence on imports. By meeting 15% of the nation’s electricity demand, the wind farm will alleviate Lesotho’s reliance on coal or gas burned elsewhere, providing a zero-emission, renewable and reliable power source of the country’s own.

Disclaimer: This story was last updated in November 2024.