Eskom’s Expired Quotes Hinder South Africa’s Renewable Plans

Eskom, South Africa’s main power supplier, recently announced the expiration of budget quotes for integrating four projects into the grid under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP).

Initiated in 2020 to tackle the country’s energy issues, RMIPPPP sought to secure 2,000MW from diverse dispatchable technologies, such as gas, solar PV, wind, battery energy storage systems, and hybrid technologies.

The Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO) and Eskom played crucial roles in supervising the procurement process.

In 2021, eleven preferred bidders were chosen, and seven projects advanced to the construction phase. However, the remaining four projects encountered delays, prompting extensions of their budget quote validity periods.

Despite Eskom’s attempts to support these projects, the budget quotes for the remaining four ventures lapsed on December 31, 2023, with no additional extensions.

Eskom conveyed disappointment about the outcome, underscoring the projects’ potential contribution to easing strain on the power system and mitigating the effects of load shedding.

The impacted projects, including four gas-to-power facilities and a solar PV facility, had a combined export capacity of 1,600MW and a contracted dispatchable capacity of 1,400MW across the provinces of Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal.

Eskom cited the necessity to adhere to governance processes, ensuring projects align with approved timelines, scope, and costs. The extended budget quotes, ranging from 20 to 30 months, are no longer valid beyond December 31, 2023.

The company encouraged affected applicants to reapply for new budget quotes, emphasizing the allocation of available capacity to projects ready to contribute essential electricity to South Africa’s grid.