In a transaction that signals a decisive consolidation of South Africa’s private renewable energy market, African Rainbow Energy (ARE) — the clean energy vehicle of billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s Ubuntu-Botho Investments — has raised its equity stake in the SOLA Group from 41% to 83%, assuming majority control of one of the country’s most established independent power producers.
The deal, which vaults ARE into a commanding position over a R20 billion-plus renewables portfolio, marks one of the most consequential private-sector moves in South Africa’s energy sector in recent years. The combined entity is now widely regarded as the largest company of its kind in South Africa, consolidating renewable energy infrastructure, generation, and storage capabilities under a single ownership structure.
From Strategic Partner to Majority Owner
The relationship between African Rainbow Energy and SOLA Group dates to the close of 2020, when AREP — African Rainbow Energy and Power — first acquired a 40% stake in SOLA, becoming the group’s single largest individual shareholder. That initial partnership was positioned as a strategic alignment between two like-minded organizations committed to accelerating South Africa’s energy transition.
The latest transaction substantially deepens that commitment. By crossing the 83% ownership threshold, ARE has moved from collaborative investor to outright controller, positioning the enlarged group to pursue more ambitious project pipelines and commercial targets than either entity could feasibly achieve independently.
Since 2022 alone, SOLA has developed, financed, and constructed 748 megawatts of renewable capacity — a figure that underscores the group’s engineering depth and execution track record. That operational capability, combined with ARE’s investment firepower, creates a formidable platform for further scaling across South Africa’s commercial, industrial, and utility-scale energy segments.
Strategic Rationale: Scale, Expertise, and the Energy Transition Imperative
South Africa’s energy landscape remains under profound structural pressure. Years of chronic underinvestment in public generation capacity have left the national grid strained, accelerating the role of independent power producers in filling the supply gap. Against this backdrop, the ARE-SOLA combination carries considerable strategic weight.
African Rainbow Energy brings a diversified portfolio of 740 megawatts of renewable investments spanning wind, solar photovoltaic, and biomass technologies — purpose-built to deliver affordable electricity through modern energy systems. SOLA, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Cape Town, contributes a vertically integrated capability set encompassing renewable energy infrastructure development, generation, and storage.
Critically, SOLA pioneered large-scale renewable energy wheeling in South Africa — a technically complex model in which clean power is generated at one location and transmitted to customers hundreds or thousands of kilometres away. Its landmark 10-megawatt Adams Solar PV project, developed for Amazon, was the first wheeling project of its scale in South African history. That track record in innovative delivery structures is precisely the kind of expertise that will underpin ARE’s next phase of growth.
“The transaction with SOLA allows us to benefit from the utilisation of modern technology to provide affordable electricity, as well as benefit from their expertise in solar photovoltaics,” Brian Dames, CEO of African Rainbow Energy and Power, said at the time of the initial partnership — sentiments that have only gained relevance as the two organizations’ combined capacity has grown.
Market Implications: Creating a Clean Energy Champion
The implications of this acquisition extend well beyond the balance sheets of the two companies involved.
South Africa’s government has committed to an ambitious energy transition, anchored by the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), which has awarded hundreds of megawatts of project rights to developers including SOLA. With 245 megawatts of REIPPPP projects awarded to SOLA alongside 78 megawatts of commercial solar PV and 7 megawatt-hours of storage, the group’s government and private sector project base offers a diversified revenue foundation.
Analysts note that the consolidation of ARE and SOLA under a unified ownership structure improves project financing dynamics, reduces transaction costs, and creates a stronger negotiating position with both offtakers and equipment suppliers. For South African corporates seeking long-term renewable energy supply agreements, the enlarged group represents a counterparty of greater scale and financial backing.
The transaction also carries a meaningful employment dimension. SOLA currently employs more than 70 permanent staff, with project construction phases supporting between 30 and 100 additional workers — a figure expected to grow as the combined entity accelerates its development pipeline.
Patrice Motsepe’s Clean Energy Vision
At the centre of this deal is Patrice Motsepe, South Africa’s first Black billionaire and one of the continent’s most prominent business leaders. Motsepe founded African Rainbow Energy and Power as part of a broader suite of investment vehicles — alongside African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and African Rainbow Capital (ARC) — with the stated ambition of building a world-class, African-led renewable energy investment platform.
AREP’s long-term target has been to boost clean power generation sevenfold, positioning the group among Africa’s largest clean energy producers. The SOLA acquisition represents a material step toward that goal — adding proven execution capability and a strong commercial pipeline to an already substantial renewable energy portfolio.
For Motsepe, the deal is consistent with a broader conviction that Africa’s energy challenge is simultaneously one of its greatest economic opportunities — and that private capital, deployed with speed and scale, can drive transformation where public infrastructure investment has lagged.
African Rainbow Energy (ARE) is a South African renewable energy company backed by billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s Ubuntu-Botho Investments. Operating through its holding entity, African Rainbow Energy and Power (AREP), the company is focused on developing and investing in clean energy solutions across Southern Africa. ARE holds a diversified portfolio of approximately 740 megawatts of renewable energy capacity spanning wind, solar photovoltaic, and biomass technologies. The company’s mission is to deliver affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity through the deployment of modern energy infrastructure, with a strategic emphasis on both utility-scale and commercial and industrial energy supply. ARE was co-launched with Absa as an African-led, world-class renewable energy investment platform and holds minority and majority stakes across a range of energy projects and operating companies.
Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, SOLA Group is a vertically integrated renewable energy company specialising in the development, financing, design, construction, and management of large-scale solar photovoltaic and energy storage projects. The company operates across the commercial, industrial, and utility-scale energy segments, and has established itself as a pioneer of renewable energy wheeling in South Africa — a model that enables clean power to be delivered to customers located far from generation sites. Since 2022, SOLA has developed, financed, and constructed 748 megawatts of renewable capacity, cementing its position as one of South Africa’s most experienced independent power producers. The group’s notable projects include the 10-megawatt Adams Solar PV project developed for Amazon — the first large-scale wheeling project in South African history. SOLA employs more than 70 permanent staff and has received awards totalling 245 megawatts under the government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
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