- French energy giant, EDF Renewables, has been awarded three 140MW wind projects in South Africa’s Bid Window 5 of the country’s Renewable Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
- The company has won nearly 850 MW of projects in the country thus far.
On October 28th 2021, the consortium consisting of EDF Renewables in South Africa and its local partners, H1 holdings and Gibb-Crede, was awarded Preferred Bidder for three wind energy facilities projects in the Bid Window 5 of the REIPPP. The Coleskop, San Kraal and Phezukomoya projects, with an installed capacities of 140 MW each, are located in the Umsobomvu Local Municipality, on the boundaries of the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape provinces. For these three wind farms, the low-carbon electricity produced each year will help to meet the electricity needs of 420,000 local people.
As per the Programme requirements, financial close of these three wind projects is scheduled by spring 2022, with the commissioning being planned for two years thereafter.
Earlier this year, EDF Renewables in South Africa won two other projects:
- In September 2021, the subsidiary and its partner Pele Green Energy were selected for a first of its kind large corporate solar photovoltaics project, in a tender from mining company Anglo-American Platinum. Through this corporate purchase power agreement, the consortium plans to build and operate a 100 MW power plant at the Mogalakwena platinum mine, in the Limpopo province. The low-carbon electricity produced each year to power the mine will replace the high-carbon grid electricity currently used. Read more
- In March 2021, the consortium composed with its partner Perpetua Holding, won the Umoyilanga project in the Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme (RMI4P), developed by the Government. This innovative project combines solar, wind and battery storage technologies. It comprises a 77 MW wind farm on the coast in the south of the country, and a 138 MW solar power plant in the Northern Cape region, which benefits from the country best solar irradiation. Both power plants will be equipped with a battery storage system totaling 75 MW of power, in order to provide a reliable service to the National Grid. The low-carbon electricity produced each year will help meet the electricity needs of 124,000 local people.
EDF Renewables in South Africa currently operates four wind farms across the country (144 MW installed capacity). It includes the Wesley wind farm (33 MW) in the former Ciskei area of the Eastern Cape, commissioned in August 2021. Adding up the new projects won in 2021, EDF Renewables holds almost 880 MW in total in its portfolio of renewable energy in South Africa.
The company is part of the South African government’s ambitions (National Integrated Resource Plan) to reach 20 GW of installed wind and solar capacity by 2030 compared to the actual 6.2 GW capacity.
Tristan de Drouas, Director of EDF Renewables in South Africa, said: “We are pleased to have very significantly expanded our project portfolio in the last 12 months. This success is the result of the intense efforts of the local EDF Renewable team, which has been operating in the country for 13 years. These projects demonstrate our ability to create innovative solutions adapted to specific local expectations of both government and industrial player. They can be launched within a short timeframe and meet South Africa’s objectives of developing low-carbon energy. They will also contribute to strengthening the reliability of the electricity grid.”.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
