Eskom to sign 27 renewable energy projects

Gordon_R

Gordon_R

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http://ewn.co.za/2018/03/08/eskom-to-sign-27-renewable-energy-projects-with-private-producers

A long-awaited decision to feed more renewable energy into the national grid, has finally been taken.

New energy minister Jeff Radebe announced at Parliament on Thursday that agreements with 27 renewable energy projects will be signed with Eskom on Tuesday.

They will contribute 2,305 megawatts of electricity.

Radebe says the R56 billion investment in the economy will create more than 60,000 jobs, 95% of which will be for South Africans.
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A step in the right direction. :)
 
Yes! Welcome to 2015, Eskom!
 
Wonderful to see that some things are going in the right direction.
 
Will this enable home solar to put back into the grid eventually??
 
B@rrels said:
Will this enable home solar to put back into the grid eventually??
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We can hope but if usage continues to decline it won't happen. I imagine Eskom buys this power and it is only viable if it is all used. Otherwise they'd be running losses.
 
Slightly more detailed report: https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Eskom...27-outstanding-renewable-energy-ipps-20180308

Government has affirmed its commitment to renewable energy by announcing the signing of the 27 outstanding renewable energy independent power producer projects (REIPPP).

Energy Minister Jeff Radebe made the announcement at Parliament on Thursday.

The projects will be signed on March 13 2018 and has the full support of the President and Cabinet, as well as Eskom.

Eskom previously had delayed the signing of REIPPPs due to financial concerns.
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Sounds like a lot of the details are not finished yet. Still room for Eskom to put spokes in the wheel: https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Eskom/renewable-deal-still-to-be-discussed-20180311-2

Eskom’s new chairperson Jabu Mabuza “will soon have discussions with the energy department in relation to the details of the announcement”, said spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe when he was asked by City Press if the power utility would honour the original tariffs agreed to.
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Terence Govender, chairperson of the SA Renewable Energy Council, said it was “a very good signal”.

There had been “no substantive changes” to the terms originally agreed to by the independent power producers (IPPs) as far back as 2015, he said.

Last year the government tried to force IPPs to lower their tariffs.

Once deals with Eskom were signed it would take between two and five months for the projects to achieve financial closure and put shovels in the ground, Govender told City Press.
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Last year former energy minister Mmamoloko Kubayi stunned the IPP developers and their significant financial backers by announcing that all the tariffs had to be reduced to 77c per kilowatt-hour – a level that would be impossible for some projects and far less profitable than previously agreed tariffs for most.
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Win win for some of the banks as well - lend some billions to these projects and make some money.
 
Bizarre, coal miners interdict Eskom from signing renewable power: https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Eskom/last-minute-court-interdict-blocks-ipp-signing-20180313

The signing of 27 independent power producer contracts on Tuesday has been put on hold, after the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and Transform RSA managed to obtain a last-minute court interdict.

In a statement on Tuesday morning, NUMSA said the interdict prevents power utililty Eskom from concluding the outstanding renewable energy power purchase agreements.

"NUMSA believes that the signing of these contracts would be detrimental for the working class of Mpumalanga and the country as a whole. The signing of the IPP means that Eskom will require less coal fired electricity," the union said in a statement.

"This is likely to lead to the closure of the coal fired power plants and the impact will be that at least 30 thousand working class families will suffer because of job losses."
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The_Assimilator said:
Why is it bizarre that a union representing coal miners would block the signing of a contract that would put their members out of work?
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Its bizarre that a union representing 30,000 workers (maximum) can hold hostage an elected government, and a company that provides electricity to 50 million people. Just my humble opinion...

Reminds me of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_miners'_strike_(1984-1985)

P.S. Read some of the comments on the duplicate thread: https://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/943033-Last-minute-court-interdict-blocks-IPP-signing
 
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Somebody is lying: https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Eskom...ict-chose-to-put-ipp-signing-on-hold-20180313

But in a statement on Tuesday morning the energy department said that while the court had not granted an interdict, the department decided to voluntarily postpone the signing "in the spirit of constitutionalism and the rule of law".

“As a result the signing will proceed on a date to be announced immediately after March 27 2018. The reports in the media that an interdict was granted are therefore not true.”

According to the Department of Energy’s statement, it was only given an hour’s notice on Monday evening when Numsa and Transform RSA approached the court with their joint urgent draft interdict.
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Contracts have been signed.

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-af...igning-of-renewable-energy-contracts-14243782

Energy Minister Jeff Radebe on Wednesday signed the hotly-contested renewable energy agreements with 27 independent power producers on behalf of state-owed power utility Eskom.**

Radebe said the 27 projects, located in mainly rural parts of South Africa, represented a total of R56 billion of investment and about 2 300MW of generation capacity to be added to the grid over the next five years.
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