State-owned utility Eskom will continue to implement load-shedding for the rest of this week, with the potential for the stage to be either increased or decreased on short notice, depending on the units being returned to service or further breakdowns, COO Jan Oberholzer indicated during a briefing on September 12. As previously communicated by the entity, Stage 3 is currently being implemented, and will continue until 05:00 on Tuesday morning. From then, Stage 2 will be implemented for the rest of the week, until midnight on Friday.
The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) welcomes the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) amendment of its request for proposals (RFP) for Bid Window 6 (BW 6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The amended REIPPPP BW 6 RFP, which was released on July 7, doubled the wind energy allocation to 3 200 MW for the bid window, thereby making up the majority of the increased allocation of 4 200 MW across all technologies.
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) believes its R14-billion green-economy project pipeline could provide the platform for a strong recovery in investment funding, following a sharp drop over the past two years. The State-owned development finance institution disbursed only R7.2-billion during its 2022 financial year, during which funding approvals rose to R16-billion.
A global increase in demand for renewable energy solutions is complicating global supply chains and capacity at the same time that South Africa is planning an aggressive ramp-up in its renewable energy plant build rates, says Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso.

She also states that she finds “little solace” in South Africa sharing an energy crisis with many other countries, having experienced Stage 4 load-shedding over the weekend.

Following the regulatory change in August 2021 to raise the licensing limit for distributed generation projects from 1 MW to 100 MW, the first two registered 100 MW energy projects have reached financial close. The financial close of the projects happened less than six months after the power purchase agreements were signed in mid-March. Construction of the projects will now begin.