South Africa approves 860MW of private power

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has approved generation licences for five preferred bidders from Bid Window 6.

The regulator said the five preferred bidders applied for licences in accordance with the Electricity Regulation Act of 2006 and faced no objections.

“Nersa analysed the applications and determined that they meet all the licensing requirements. No objections to the applications were received,” it said.

Together, the five independent power producers (IPPs) will add 860MW of capacity once their sites are up and running.

The regulator listed the five preferred bidders and details on their projects. This is summarised in the table below.

All five will operate photovoltaic solar power plants.

Three of the five preferred bidders’ sites will be in the North West, while the remaining two will be in the Free State.

This isn’t surprising as the country’s transmission grids in the Northern, Western, and Eastern Cape are full or close to capacity, meaning significant upgrades must occur before new IPPs can be signed in these provinces.

However, Intellidex managing director for capital markets, Peter Attard Montalto, previously told MyBroadband that Eskom is spending less than R1 billion of the R14.5 billion it needs to spend each year on upgrading the transmission grid.

This has resulted in a push for IPPs with sites in South Africa’s other provinces, hence the appointment of bidders in the North West and the Free State.

While the transmission grids in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal still have plenty of space, they are not as attractive to IPPs.

Scatec sub-Saharan Africa general manager Jan Fourie said solar resources in the Northern Cape are around 10% better than elsewhere in the country. Interest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, in particular, is very weak.

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