Tag Archive for: Electricity

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has appointed Willibrod Majola and Nomfundo Maseti as full-time regulator members for five years following Cabinet’s approval.

Nersa has also appointed Ria Govender as part-time regulator members for four years.

Licensed electricity trader Discovery Green, the energy platform of the Discovery Group, continues to advance two of South Africa’s largest private-sector renewable-energy developments, marking a significant milestone in the scaling of utility-level clean power for corporate offtakers. The projects, which achieved financial close this year, include the 150 MW Overberg Wind Farm, in the Western Cape, and the 300 MW Tournee Solar Park, in Mpumalanga. They represent the first phase of a broader procurement programme intended to strengthen private-sector participation in creating new generation capacity, thereby supporting national decarbonisation objectives.

For the national grid to facilitate increased renewable power generation, the Department of Electricity and Energy (DEE) has affirmed that about 14 000 km of new transmission lines are required over the next decade, with DEE Deputy-Minister Samantha Graham-Maré asserting that transmission remains a critical issue for the country. Traditionally, State-owned power utility Eskom has set itself yearly targets of about 200 km of new transmission lines, and this remains part of its planning, with this year’s target being about 174 km.

With the renewables sector moving beyond proof-of-concept into industrial-scale deployment, South Africa’s leading financiers are playing a pivotal role in translating policy ambition into bankable infrastructure. For Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB), success in scaling up renewable-energy projects hinges on collaboration, disciplined risk allocation and a growing ecosystem of private offtake models reshaping the country’s energy market. South Africa’s renewable-energy landscape continues to evolve as projects under public procurement and private contracting frameworks advance to financial close, says Standard Bank CIB power head Rentia van Tonder. Standard Bank has emerged as one of the leading financiers enabling this shift, combining traditional project-finance rigour with innovative structures tailored to a more liberalised energy environment.

The 75 MW Umoyilanga hybrid project, which combines solar, wind and battery storage technologies across two sites to produce dispatchable electricity, has taken a step closer to its full commercial operations date (COD) with construction completed at the Dassiesridge site in the Eastern Cape. The project, which was one of the winning bidders under South Africa’s troubled Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) that was overshadowed by the powership bids, is being developed by a consortium involving EDF power solutions and investment company Perpetua Holdings.