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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a series of potentially far-reaching reforms for the electricity supply industry in a speech on 25 July, with measures that will be controversial in some quarters and are unlikely to end load-shedding in the short-term – but which should accelerate the power sector’s liberalisation, while easing some procurement and development difficulties.
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) offers several potential markets using a battery: the day-ahead market where power is traded in hourly slots; intra-day which is also hourly and operates two hours in advance; and a new balancing market which is an hour ahead for 15-minute intervals.
An upgraded solar PV plant for Gold Fields’ South Deep Mine in South Africa is on schedule to be commissioned during Q3 2022, after construction of the ZAR715m ($42.4m) plant started in Q3 2021
Construction starts have been announced by Oslo-based developer Scatec after the three Kenhardt projects in the Northern Cape reached financial close. “The project will be the largest investment in Scatec’s history,” the company said – and South Africa’s (and one of the world’s) largest solar and battery facilities.
Within months of offering the company to a receptive market, UK private equity (PE) investor Actis and partner Mainstream Renewable Power announced on 18 July that they had signed an agreement to sell Lekela Power to Egyptian/UAE-based Infinity Group (and its Abu Dhabi-based ally Masdar) and Lagos-based multilateral Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).
South32’s Hillside Aluminium and renewables provider Solana Energy have partnered to develop solar PV projects to add 2-2.5MW of electricity to the grid in Richards Bay.
Bushveld Energy and South African investment firm Nesa Investment Holding have signed a shareholding agreement for a 3.5MW solar PV system and 1MW/4MWh vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) system.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on 5 July that the framework, which sets the agenda for the governments ‘just energy transition’ policy, had been finalised, five months after a public consultation document was published.
South Africa’s national utility Eskom has selected 18 companies with renewable energy projects with a combined 1.8GW capacity for land leases at the utility’s power stations in Mpumalanga. The project is part of efforts by its Just Energy Transition Office to mitigate the impact of closing coal power plants, with knock-on impacts on coal transport and mining.
The Karusa wind farm operated by Enel Green Power South Africa (EGP) has been commissioned, adding 147MW to the national grid.
Scatec has become the first developer to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) under South Africa’s first Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Programme (RMIPPP), for its three Kenhardt solar PV and battery hybrid projects. The milestone marks the start of an intensive period for developers and financiers involved in the RMIPPP and the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPP) fifth round, who are pushing to finalise terms and start construction over the next three months.
South Africa’s SolarAfrica has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply Vantage Data Centers’ new site in Johannesburg with 87MW of solar power. The contract will see power wheeled over the grid from a site in the Northern Cape, with the aim of helping Vantage and its clients meet their net zero requirements.
Construction of the Lephalale solar PV plant that will power Exxaro Resources’ Grootegeluk coal mine in Limpopo province is scheduled to start in early 2023, following approval of the project by National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).
While western partners focus on renewable energy, Eskom chief executive André De Ruyter and general manager for just energy transition Mandy Rambharos has restated the utility’s commitment to developing new gas capacity.
Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) deputy director-general Jacob Mbele has confirmed that a request for proposals (RfP) for the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPP)’s seventh round will be released later this year, alongside an RfP for the gas-to-power IPP programme in October.
