- The bidders list for Bid Window 7 (BW7) of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) has been released by the IPP Office.
- BW 7 seeks to procure 3200 MW of wind and 1800 MW of solar power.
- As it stands BW7 submission outcome reveals an undersubscription for wind technology at 1692MW while solar PV is oversubscribed with a total of 8526MW capacity.
Bid window 7 has seen multiple submission deadline extensions since its release on 14 December 2023 to allow the country’s state owned energy utility, Eskom, more time to process the CEL applications (applications from IPP’s to feed into the grid), plus accomodate requests from Bidders to allow more time for the preparation of their Bid Responses.
South Africa’s national energy procurement programme has been plagued by delays and mismanagement since Gwede Mantashe was appointed as the country’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy in 2018. Read more
Only 56 bids were received for the country’s REIPPP Bid Window 6. This marks a dramatic decline in bids by around half compared to Bid Window 5 which was massively oversubscribed, attracting a total of 102 bids. Only five Preferred Bidders with projects totalling 860MW were appointed under the 6th Bid Window of the REIPPPP.
Related news: I was wrong – South Africa’s energy procurement programme is in serious trouble
No wind projects were awarded in REIPPPP Bid Window 6 which may also explain the low turnout of wind projects in BW 7.
The Department received Onshore Wind bid responses amounting to 4116 MW for the Bid Window 6, all of which are located in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape supply areas. Following the confirmation from Eskom during the evaluation that no grid capacity was available to connect any proposed Onshore Wind projects in these supply areas, the Department could unfortunately not award any of the wind projects up to the allocated 3200 MW under the bid window.
Since then, Mantashe added preferred bidders piecemeal without any public announcements. Read more
New minister
The country is hoping to see an improvement in the management of REIPPPP under the newly appointed Minister of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa (ANC) and his deputy, the Democratic Alliance’s Samantha Graham, in a government of national unity. The IPP Office will likely undergo a shakeup after Mantashe’s departure to head up the newly created Ministry of Mines & Petroleum.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
1 Comment
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