Energy9.10.2024

Eskom’s big battery project problem

Eskom’s planned R11-billion battery energy storage system (BESS) project is years behind schedule and will be delivering less than a quarter of the power capacity it was supposed to have by the end of 2024.

A big part of the problem is that the power utility lacks funding. Government’s conditions to provide Eskom with a large debt relief package blocked it from taking on additional debt without Treasury approval.

This has caused a large part of the BESS project to be put on hold.

The Eskom BESS was envisioned to be the country’s biggest distributed battery system with 343MW output and 1,440MWh of daily energy storage.

The project formed part of an initiative announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa to install 500MW of battery capacity in South Africa.

“The Eskom BESS project will act as a proof of concept on the delivery of the first battery energy storage project in South Africa,” Eskom explained.

“The project supports transformational aspects by demonstrating large-scale deployment in support of South Africa’s renewable energy strategy and addresses local overall system challenges.”

According to Eskom’s original timelines, the entire BESS was supposed to be fully commissioned by December 2024.

Eskom announced the appointment of the two successful bidders for the BESS project in July 2022 — South Korean firm Hyosung and Chinese company Pinggao — with a timeline for a rollout over two phases.

Phase 1 would see the installation of 199MW of capacity coupled with 833MWh of energy storage over eight sites, to be fully commissioned by the end of June 2023.

That date was pushed out to December 2023, but even so, ten months later, less than half of the Phase 1 sites have been completed.

Eskom broke ground on the first Phase 1 site at Elandskop in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, in December 2022.

However, the first site confirmed to be constructed and commissioned was the Hex installation in the Western Cape, boasting 20MW output and 100MWh energy storage, which was completed in November 2023.

Aerial view of the Hex BESS site in Worcester, Western Cape

As of October, only three of the 12 sites were completed and operational — Elandskop, Hex, and Pongola.

These deliver a combined 68MW of output and boast 192MWh of daily energy storage.

Two more sites — Graafwater and Paleisheuwel — are expected to have completed construction by November 2024, increasing the output by 14.5MW and storage by 75MWh.

The sixth site at Skaapvlei is expected to be completed by January 2025 and will have a much more substantial output of 80MW, almost equivalent to all the other sites combined.

Its planned energy storage of 320MWh will also be greater than the other five sites combined.

Eskom is still in the procurement process for the two final sites of Phase 1 — Melkhout and Rietfontein — which will add the final 36.54MW of power output and 146.16MWh of storage.

The power utility said these are expected to be awarded to a contractor in the fourth quarter of 2024 and completed by December 2025.

That means Phase 1’s latest expected completion date is over two and a half years after Eskom’s original target of June 2023.

Phase 2 in limbo

Phase 2 would have consisted of four more sites with a further 144MW output and 616MWh of storage, fully commissioned by December 2024.

However, Eskom told MyBroadband that Phase 2 was deferred due to available funding and financing and Eskom’s debt relief conditions.

“Eskom is looking into various funding and financing options for Phase 2, and once finalised, this information will then be shared,” the power utility said.

The project is being funded with concessional loans from the World Bank, African Development Bank, and New Development Bank.

If the remaining Phase 1 sites are commissioned by the end of the year, the total power output of the BESS will stand at 82.5MW, less than a quarter of the original planned capacity of 343MW by December 2024.

The combined energy storage of 267MWh will amount to less than a fifth of the total planned storage of the system by its initial planned completion date.

The table below provides a summary of the planned sites that form part of Eskom’s BESS project, how much capacity and storage each will contribute to the greater system upon completion, and their last known status.

SiteSupplierPeak output at any given timeDaily storage capacityLast known statusConstruction end
Phase 1
Skaapvlei, Western CapePinggao80MW320MWhIn constructionJanuary 2025
Melkhout, Eastern CapeNot awarded yet35MW140MWhPre-contract award stageDecember 2025
Elandskop, KwaZulu-NatalHyosung8MW32MWhCommissionedApril 2024
Pongola, KwaZulu-NatalHyosung40MW160MWhCommissionedDecember 2023
Hex, Western CapeHyosung20MW100MWhCommissioned November 2023
Graafwater, Western CapePinggao5MW30MWhIn constructionNovember 2024
Paleisheuwel, Western CapePinggao9.5MW45MWhIn constructionNovember 2024
Rietfontein, Northern CapeNot awarded yet1.54MW6.16MWhPre-contract award stageDecember 2025
Total Phase 1199.02MW833.16MWh
Phase 1 online68MW192MWh
Phase 1 planned online by end of 202482.5MW267MWh
Planned completion datestOriginal: June 2023
Revised: December 2023
New completion dateDecember 2025
Phase 2
Witzenberg, Western Cape17MW68MWhDeferredUnknown
Ashton, Western Cape17MW68MWhDeferredUnknown
Cuprum, Northern Cape70MW280MWhDeferredUnknown
Kiwano, Northern Cape 40MW200MWhDeferredUnknown
Total Phase 2144MW616MWh
Phase 2 online0MW0MWh
Phase 2 original completion dateDecember 2024 — Will be missed
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