Absa funds South Africa’s first utility-scale renewable energy captive power project

Financial services provider Absa acted as joint mandated lead arranger and lender for South Africa’s first utility-scale renewable energy captive power project, which will be built in the North West at an estimated cost of about R4.1-billion. The project – comprising of two projects of 100 MW each – is being developed by SOLA Group of South Africa and will supply power to Tronox Holdings’  South African operations, Tronox SA, under a long-term power purchase agreement.
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Nersa corrects gas concurrence notice, says 3 000 MW relates to Eskom Richards Bay request

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has published an erratum to a consultation paper published for public comment on August 25 in relation to it providing concurrence to a Ministerial determination for the procurement of 3 000 MW of gas-fired electricity. The original notice and consultation paper said that the 3 000 MW was based on an allocation for gas/diesel generation outlined in Table 5 of the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 (IRP2019).
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Load-shedding to escalate to Stage 4 on Tuesday morning

Load-shedding will escalate to Stage 4 at 10:00 on Tuesday morning, and will last until 05:00 on Thursday, Eskom has announced.  This was after three units Kendal Power Station, with 1 920 MW maximum generating capacity, suddenly tripped. 
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Eskom gives Koeberg update as load-shedding continues

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.
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SAWEA welcomes doubling of Bid Window 6 wind allocation, extension of submissions

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.
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R14bn green economy pipeline seen as key to IDC’s ramp-up after investment slump

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.
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Overcoming energy crisis requires awareness of global marketplace movements

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.

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SOLA, African Rainbow Energy reach financial close on two 100 MW solar projects

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.
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Next renewables round reduced to 4 200 MW to avoid a ‘delay’

Government has confirmed that the procurement allocation for Bid Window Six (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) has been scaled back to 4 200 MW from the 5 200 MW announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on July 25. The National Energy Crisis Committee announced on Sunday that the decision to proceed with a 4 200 MW request for proposals (RFP) had been decided so as to ensure that the procurement process was not delayed, given that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) still needed to concur with a Ministerial determination opening the way for the procurement of more solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity.
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Stage 3 load-shedding all weekend as another five units trip

Stage 3 load-shedding will be implemented from 14:00 on Friday until 05:00 on Monday morning, Eskom said in a statement on Friday afternoon.  After that, Stage 2 load-shedding is foreseen for the rest of the week – continuously. 
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