South Africa Releases Its Largest Renewable Energy Tender of 3,740 MW Capacity

Africa Releases Its Largest Renewable Energy Tender with 3,740 MW Capacity

In a first such tender for the country on African continent, South Africa has issued its first large-scale tender aimed at procuring renewable energy. With a capacity of 3,740 MW, this is the continent’s biggest program on renewable energy.  This is the release of the first phase of the RFP (Request for Proposal).

The tender has been introduced with a view to take the pressure off the nation’s power grid operated by Eskom. At present, Africa is mired in the dire challenge of electrcity and water supply. Power outages have become a common phenomenon here.

Coal accounts for the primary source of energy for Africa, claiming 80 per cent of the energy share. It is globally the fifth-largest exporter of coal. However, to reverse this trend, South Africa is now focussing on Just Energy Transition (JET). The first phase of the JET Investment Plan is seeing mobilisation from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the European Union with an initial $8.5 billion. This makes up a part of a long-term Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) that was signed back in 2021.

As part of the JET, South Africa will set sights on aspects such as job reskilling, redeveloping former coal mines and coal power plants as clean energy production sites and employment for other clean energy sources.

In January 2023, South Africa made a plan to add 14.771 GW of new wind, solar and battery storage capacity to the national grid. In the short term, the government hopes to buy around 1 GW power generation capacity from its neighbours after having already imported 300 MW through the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).