Wrap Text
Operational Update: 2023
Kibo Energy PLC (Incorporated in Ireland)
(Registration Number: 451931)
(External registration number: 2011/007371/10)
Share code on the JSE Limited: KBO
Share code on the AIM: KIBO
ISIN: IE00B97C0C31
(‘Kibo’ or ‘the Company’)
Dated: 7am 01 February 2023
Kibo Energy PLC ('Kibo' or the 'Company')
Operational Update: 2023
Kibo Energy PLC (AIM: KIBO; AltX: KBO), the renewable-energy-focused development company,
is pleased to provide an operational update, following an eventful but productive year of dedicated
hard work amidst extraordinary challenges.
In accordance with the Company’s existing operational policy, the Kibo Executive Management team
conducted an extensive review of the Company’s project portfolio at the end of 2022, which included
an operations review. The key elements of said operational review are discussed below.
Portfolio
The Kibo Group strategy, as previously announced in a Company RNS dated 19 April 2021, is
focused on developing, owning and operating sustainable energy solutions that can immediately and
progressively address the acute energy challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Kingdom and
Ireland. The Company achieves this by acquiring and developing energy assets that can be brought
into production within an 18-to-24-month timeline. This strategy is evident from the comprehensive
project portfolio set out in the Q4 2022 Corporate Presentation on the Company’s website and which
should be read in conjunction with this RNS.
The table below indicates the status of Kibo’s Project Portfolio to date. This does not include project
opportunities that are currently the subject of advanced due diligence and commercial consideration.
Kibo Group Project Portfolio
High-Level
Entity Kibo Strategic Projects Development Indicative
Equity Domain Status Milestone
Operational
and
Pyebridge (9 MW)
generating
revenue
Financial
close — Q1
2023
MAST Energy
Reserve
Developments 57.86%
Power Installation
(UK) Advanced
of gas and
Bordesley (5 MW) project
grid
development
connection
—
December
2023
Commercial
operation —
March 2024
Renewed
and updated
planning
Advanced consent —
Rochdale (4.4 MW) project Q1 2023
development
Financial
close – end
Q2 2023
Updated
EPC and
O&M
contracts —
Hindlip Lane (7.5 MW) Concept stage Q3 2023
Financial
close — Q4
2023
Determine
date at
which grid
connection
is available
— Q1 2023
Stather Road (2.5 MW) Concept stage
Rest of
milestones
TBD once
the above
has been
established
Feasibility
study update
on oil
production
addition —
Q1 2023
CHP project to
supply base-
Completion
load electricity Phase 1
of
generation in (2.7 MW + Advanced
integration
South Africa study on project
study and
with 4 revenue synthetic development
finalization
streams: oil stage
Waste to of off-take
Sustineri (SA) 65% electricity, gate production)
Energy agreement
fees and
for oil
potentially from
production –
heat and steam
Q2 2023
output as well
as the
Financial
production of
close — Q3
synthetic oil.
2023
Milestones
Phase 2 TBD once
Pre-concept
(targeted 20 Phase 1 has
stage
MW) been
executed
Simultaneous Projects to
concept and be
12.3 MW in development commercial announced
development as off-take
agreements
Long
National are finalized
Duration
Broadband 51% with
Energy
Solutions (SA) finalization
Storage 36.32 MW target for Under
of first
development development
agreements
expected
during Q1
2023
Completion
of concept
study for
conversion
Original
of MCPP
project.
project to
Fully
bio-coal —
Mbeya Power 300 MW short-term permitted
Q2 2023
Project (“MPP”) 100% Biofuel conversion to renewable with
(TZ) energy biofuel Bankable
Completion
Feasibility
of Power
Study
Purchase
completed
Agreement
with
TANESCO -
Q3 2023
Completion
of front-end
engineering
and design
(FEED)
study — Q1
2023
Submission
of
environment
Southport (10 MW, 2MW long al permit
Waste to
UK Portfolio 100% duration energy storage and application
Energy
5.5m m3 bio-methane) — Q2 2023
Submission
of green gas
supply
scheme
application
— Q2 2023
Financial
close —
Q2/Q3 2023
Precious
and
Katoro Gold 20.88% katorogold.com
strategic
minerals
Notes
The notes below address the most recent announced initiatives in the interest of providing additional
context.
Waste to Energy
The plastic–to-syngas project in South Africa, Sustineri, as announced in an RNS dated 17 January
2023, has commenced with an optimisation and integration study into the production of synthetic oil
from non-recyclable plastic waste, thereby adding a potential accelerated additional revenue stream
to the project. Since synthetic oil is formed as part of the plastic-to-waste pyrolysis process to produce
syngas, the production thereof would require a slight amendment to the process as was designed in
the feasibility study phase for syngas in the electricity generation process. This implies that the Project
can be developed for execution in two distinct phases, with a first phase being the production of
synthetic oil and a second phase the production of syngas and electricity.
The decision to pursue the production of synthetic oil as part of phase 1 is expected to have a positive
impact on the Project's profitability and provides the Company with the opportunity to generate
revenue much earlier than initially projected. Additionally, it provides an opportunity to construct
and commission the pyrolysis plant and related infrastructure earlier, thereby facilitating early
revenue. Finally, it also contributes materially to de-risking the Project and will make the Project
significantly more attractive to a wider spectrum of interested funders, thereby reducing the funding
risk and improving the ability to secure said financing.
As the optimisation study is already underway, it is believed that a technical conclusion may already
be reached by end of Q1 2023. As the major project technical and commercial milestones have already
been achieved, this will allow the accelerated completion of the funding discussions and
commencement of project execution.
Biofuel
The Company, after determining the technical feasibility of the production of bio-coal from biomass,
is currently determining the commercial viability of this process under a variety of industrial scale
applications. In this regard, the company is undertaking both due diligence investigations and
participating in advanced discussions on several projects.
Apart from potentially providing a sustainable fuel source for the Mbeya Power Project and
subsequently potentially for the two remaining 300MW projects in the Kibo portfolio (i.e. MCIPP
and Benga) as well, there is an opportunity to source and/or cultivate biomass to produce bio-coal at
strategically placed biofuel production plants for various leading international companies in the
manufacturing industry. The Company is working closely with these manufacturers, who operate a
significant number of manufacturing plants in Southern Africa, to complete extensive feasibility
studies at identified operating plants. To this extent the Company has already determined and agreed
on a roll-out plan to supply some of these operating plants with their total fuel requirement in the
form of biofuel, completely replacing their current dependence on coal.
Immediate and Short-Term Focus
In executing the Company’s strategy referred to above, the Company continues to actively execute
the following strategic work streams:
* Exit coal by a disposal process of its coal assets, all of which are in southern and eastern
Africa (RNS dated 16 June 2021). This process is still underway, and the Company has
entertained various approaches/offers since and is currently considering a definitive term
sheet in this regard which, should it be agreed, the Company expects to announce. The
Company’s various coal assets are however faced with some fundamental challenges, of
which the following are the most important:
- Funding for the construction of new coal mines is not readily available, especially for
thermal coal deposits;
- All the Kibo coal assets are situated in very remote areas with very little to no existing
infrastructure, far away from any export port (more than 800 km) and with no
significant local coal market; and
- The Kibo coal assets are thermal coal deposits and, although thermal coal is in big
demand now, it does not command a premium price, which makes such deposits less
attractive for exporters, especially when considered in conjunction with the above two
points.
* Convert its African electricity-generating asset fuel supply from coal to biofuel technology,
subject to proven technical and commercial feasibility (RNS dated 25 August 2022).
* Identify and secure South African and United Kingdom Waste to Energy (“WtE”) and
flexible/reserve-power projects (RNSs dated 18 May 2021 and 19 April 2021, respectively).
* Enter the Long Duration Energy Storage (‘LDES’) market, comprising Battery Energy
Storage Systems (‘BESS’) integrated with utility-scale and microgrid renewable energy
solutions (RNS dated 17 May 2022).
* Realise shareholder value with the continuation of its spinout strategy, whereby the
Company’s WtE and biofuel projects to be potentially held in a new AIM-listed vehicle.
Ultimate Sustainable Energy LTD (‘USE’), is being prepared for listing on AIM via an initial
public offering (‘IPO’). (See RNS dated 29 September 2022). In this regard, as part of
planning and preparation of the IPO referred to above, the Company has identified a Nomad
and Broker and is in advanced negotiations towards agreeing engagement and mandate letters
with a view of completing the IPO during Q2 2023.
Corporate Update
At the start of the new year, in an RNS dated 11 January 2023, the Company announced the
appointment of Beaumont Cornish Limited (‘BCL’) as its new Nominated Adviser (NOMAD). The
Company furthermore welcomed Ajay Saldanha as an independent non-executive director to its
Board of Directors. Ajay Saldanha (aged 47) is an experienced banking and investment professional
with more than 20 years of experience in the power, energy and utilities sector.
The Company is currently sufficiently funded through its existing financing facilities, assuming
deferral or otherwise settlement in equity of the bridge loan facility announced on 16 February 2022
and £660,000 Convertible Loan Instrument held by Kibo executive management and directors, to
cover operational expenditure for the short to medium term while the Company actively pursues
various funding opportunities. These include equity, debt and project financing, to fund the ongoing
development of the various projects within the Kibo Group Project Portfolio and to bring the
advanced projects, as outlined above, to Financial Close as soon as possible. Most of the projects
included in the Project Portfolio are in advanced stages of development and Kibo is working towards
achieving Financial Close for all the advanced projects during the course of 2023, with the specific
exclusion of the Mbeya Power Project where Financial Close can realistically only be achieved during
2024.
Louis Coetzee, Chief Executive Officer and Non-Executive Chairman of Kibo Energy, says:
“We are pleased with the progress we have made since announcing our re-focused strategy to pivot
to renewable/alternative energy in 2021. In following this strategy, Kibo has built a robust and
diversified project pipeline and bolstered its project development capacity. This diversified portfolio
sufficiently de-risks the Kibo strategy execution from Management’s perspective and has successfully
propelled the Company to a position where it currently has the realistic expectation of seeing several
projects in revenue generation status over the next 12 to 24 months.
The Company has furthermore strengthened its in-house capability significantly with management
and project teams that have extensive skills, knowledge and experience in the renewable energy
sector. In this regard, the Company has also recently concluded negotiations with a well-respected
international executive in the long-duration energy storage industry to join the Kibo team in heading
up the Company’s renewable energy and long-duration storage business division. Further
announcements will be made in this regard as soon as a commencement date has been finalized.
2023 promises to be an eventful year for Kibo and we look forward to providing the market with
further updates in due course.”
This announcement contains inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations
(EU) no. 596/2014.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.kibo.energy or contact:
Louis Coetzee info@kibo.energy Kibo Energy PLC Chief Executive Officer
James Biddle
Roland Cornish +44 207 628 3396 Beaumont Cornish Limited Nominated Adviser
Claire Noyce +44 20 3764 2341 Hybridan LLP Joint Broker
Damon Heath +44 207 186 9952 Shard Capital Partners LLP Joint Broker
Zainab Slemang Investor and Media
van Rijmenant zainab@lifacommunications.com Lifa Communications Relations Consultant
Johannesburg
01 February 2023
Corporate and Designated Adviser
River Group
Date: 01-02-2023 09:00:00
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