- South Africa’s state owned energy utility, Eskom, has issued a tender for the design, supply, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of Solar PV plant with capacity of up to 72 MW for Komati Power Station.
The Eskom Holdings SOC Limited has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Eskom Just Energy Transition Project (EJETP) and intends to apply part of the proceeds toward payments under the contract for Design, supply, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of Solar PV plant with capacity of up to 72 MWp for Komati Power Station.
The Eskom Holdings SOC Limited intends to initially select Applicants for Design, supply, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of Solar PV plant with capacity of up to 72 MWp for Komati Power Station for a period of Three (03) years. It is expected that the Request for Proposals will be made in November 2025.
Initial Selection will be conducted through the procedures as specified in the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers Fifth Edition September 2023 (“Procurement Regulations”), and is open to all eligible Applicants as defined in the Procurement Regulations.
The tender submission deadline is 10:00AM 30 September 2025.
Link to the full tender notice HERE: 20250724_SPD-ISD-Works-EPC-PV Solar
Last month Eskom confirmed that the decommissioning of coal power plants strategy will be decoupled from the country’s Just Energy Transition (JET) Plan. The power station lifecycles and the JET plan will be implemented separately, and timelines will not be synchronised.
This will not delay the development of alternative energy generation at existing coal power plants in a repowering programme using renewables, gas, green hydrogen, cleaner coal and other technologies. The plan also includes repurposing of existing power stations’ existing infrastructure like buildings, possible farmlands, mining and local community integration, reskill and upskill training, and manufacturing like brick making. The idea is to uphold the best interest of the direct and extended employment value chain taking lessons learnt from Komati Coal Power Station. Read more
Mr Rivoningo Mnisi, Eskom’s Group Executive for Renewables confirmed that 5GW of repowering projects are currently under development at six coal fired power with construction set to begin on 2GW by 2026. Most of the projects are being developed under a public-private partnership model and will be implemented in more than one phase. Mnisi explained that funding will be frontloaded for alternative power generation and repurposing citing lessons learnt from Komatipoort.
Eskom’s repowering plan leading up to 2030. Author provided
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
