South Africa

South Africa

South Africa to extend renewables procurement programme

SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa's Department of Energy has confirmed that it will seek additional capacity under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

The exact amount has not been revealed, but is expected to be 3.2GW, for commissioning by 2020. There is no indication how capacity will be split among the different technologies. The 3.2GW comes on top of 3,725MW already announced (1.85GW is allocated to wind power).

Following the first two bidding rounds, only 653MW is available for wind in the third round, scheduled for  May.

At the same time, the Department of Energy has now secured guarantees from the National Treasury , providing investors with reassurance in case state utility Eskom defaults on its payments.

This leaves the way clear for Eskom to sign implementation and power purchase agreements with the developers. This is expected to happen late this month or early next, allowing the developers to proceed to financial close.

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