South Africa Secures 975 MW of Solar Energy PPAs in 5th Tender

South Africa seems to be gaining speed on renewables. The country has authorized power purchase agreements (PPAs) for a capacity of 975 MW of renewable energy projects under the ongoing Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

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The official statement of the government read, "Bid Window 6 asked for new generation capacity of 4,200 MW, of which 1,000 MW solar and also 3,200 MW wind." The country has also awarded preferred bidder conditions for an additional 860 MW under the REIPPPP Bid Window 6.

Along with other applicable agreements, the PPAs were inked for 13 renewable energy projects under the 5th round of the project. All projects signed are solar photovoltaic based. The tendering was done in April 2021. In the process, 25 projects were selected with preferred-bidder standing for an integrated capacity of 2,583 MW.

The government has declared that until now, power purchase agreements have been secured for 19 out of the 25 wind energy and solar energy schemes. The aggregate capacity for the projects whose PPAs are signed comes to 1,759 MW. The agreements were signed in Centurion.

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South Africa signed PPAs for three projects of 273 MW capacity by Norwegian company Scatec, French renewable player Engie also signed three PPAs in association with Pele Green, Total Mulilo signed one PPA and Ikamva Consortium signed six PPAs for 450 MW of capacity. The Ikamva Consortium is led by Mainstream Renewable Power and Globeleq, Africa-focused independent power producer (IPP).

The government said that once all Conditions Precedent (CPs) have been met and projects have reached commercial and financial close, they will enter into the construction period which is expected to be 24 months. The new generation capacity should therefore be online from 2025. All the schemes awarded demand an overall investment of ZAR 12.1 billion.