MEGAPOWER Solar Business Plan › Section 9 › Implementation Roadmap

The implementation roadmap from project kick-off to Commercial
Operations Date (COD) is structured around five interdependent
workstreams: Development, Commercial, Financial, Procurement and
Construction. Each workstream has discrete deliverables, named owners
and tranche-release triggers tied to the capital structure described in
Section 7. The total elapsed time from kick-off to COD is approximately
24 months. The Gantt chart below sets out the full schedule with
critical-path dependencies and major milestones.

9.1 24-Month Gantt Chart

Figure 9.1

9.2 Phase Definitions

• Development (M1-M9). Site acquisition and
  registration of land lease, finalisation of resource and yield study,
  EIA and permit issuance, NERSA generation licence and Eskom
  grid-connection budget quote validation.
• Commercial (M8-M12). REIPPPP submission and / or
  corporate-PPA negotiation, PPA signing and Implementation Agreement
  execution.
• Financial (M9-M13). DFI engagement, debt
  term-sheet negotiation, lenders’ due diligence and financial
  close.
• Procurement (M11-M16). EPC tender and award,
  module / inverter / tracker procurement, key long-lead items
  secured.
• Construction (M14-M23). Civil works, mechanical
  and electrical installation, substation works and grid
  energisation.
• Operations (M24-). Commissioning, performance
  testing, COD, and 25-year operations under O&M contract.

9.3 Critical Milestones

9.4 Critical Path & Dependencies

The critical path runs through the EIA approval (M8), PPA signing
(M12), financial close (M13) and the start of construction (M14). Any
delay on the EIA decision drives a knock-on delay in PPA signing
(because lenders require the EIA before signing) and therefore in
financial close. To compress this risk, MEGAPOWER has commissioned the
EIA specialist studies in parallel with the resource assessment, has
pre-screened legal counsel for PPA drafting, and has commenced lender
pre-qualification ahead of formal mandate.

Within the construction phase, the longest-lead items are the
substation transformers (typically 9-12 months) and the modules
(typically 4-6 months). Module orders will be placed under Letter of
Intent at financial close to avoid procurement-driven delay;
transformers will be ordered as soon as the budget quote is firmed up,
with a portion of equity tranches available to bridge any lag between
order and senior-debt drawdown.

9.5 Resource Plan

Total project headcount during construction will peak at
approximately 350 site personnel (mostly EPC subcontractor workforce),
supported by a project management office of 25 MEGAPOWER and consultant
staff. During operations, the on-site team will reduce to approximately
25 permanent personnel under the O&M contract, with an additional 10
part-time security and grounds personnel.

Procurement of construction services prioritises local SMMEs and
labour from within a 50 km radius of the project site, in line with
B-BBEE economic-development scoring. Skills-development commitments —
apprenticeships, structured training and a learnership programme — are
embedded in the EPC contract.

9.6 Tranche-based Capital Release

Capital is released against milestone achievement to align
disbursement risk with project progress.

9.7 Post-COD Operations Roadmap

From COD onward, the project transitions from construction risk to
operational performance. Year-1 performance is closely tracked against
the modelled P50, with monthly performance reports to lenders and the
Independent Engineer’s annual technical audit. Equity distributions
commence in Year 6 once the senior-debt service has been comfortably
covered.

Confidential — this business plan is provided to prospective investors and lenders for evaluation purposes only and may not be reproduced or distributed without the written consent of MEGAPOWER Solar Power (Pty) Ltd.