South Africa intends to purchase 6.8GW of renewable energy

     The South African government will organize the procurement of 11,813 megawatts of the sun solar system new power infrastructure projects, including 6,800 megawatts for renewable energy.

    The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy stated that South Africa’s National Energy Regulatory Agency (NERSA) has agreed to its decision to increase production capacity announced in February 2020.

    In another statement, South African power company Eskom expressed support for the decision of the South African National Energy Regulatory Authority.

    This purchase will open multiple bidding windows, including bid window 5 (BW 5) for renewable energy capacity. Approximately 6,800 MW of wind and photovoltaic power generation (PV), 513 MW of energy storage, 3,000 MW of gas-fired power generation capacity and 1,500 MW of coal-fired power plants will be tendered.

    The US Department of Energy said that the project plans to develop 11,813 megawatts of electricity from 2022.

    After NERSA made the above decision, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said: “Considering the current supply constraints, additional power generation capacity is urgently needed, which will end load reduction. And to ensure the country’s energy security."

    Under the Technology Unknowable Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Program (RMIPPP), 2,000 megawatts of emergency power is currently being purchased, in addition to which will increase installed capacity.

    The new procurement plan is in line with South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2019), which sets out South Africa’s energy agenda before 2030. IRP 2019 has set aside billions of watts of development space for renewable energy. Because South Africa has abundant coal resources, coal will still be the largest source of electricity in South Africa.