Eskom again avoids signing PPA for 100-MW CSP park - report

South African utility Eskom last week refused to sign the power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 100-MW Redstone concentrating solar power (CSP) project, Business Day said Monday.

Other winners in the South African government’s green energy tenders are worried that this is not the only independent power producer (IPP) project to suffer, according to the report.

Eskom has already warned the government that it may refuse to enter into new PPAs beyond bidding window 4.5 of the renewable energy independent power producer procurement (REIPPP).

Still, the utility has twice avoided the signing of the Redstone solar PPA, a winner in the 3.5 bid window. At the end of July, Eskom put off “until further notice” the signing with California-based SolarReserve and Saudi ACWA Power and, Business Day reports, it refused again to sign the deal at a scheduled meeting on August 25.

Bloomberg on Monday cited Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe as saying that the company wants to discuss things with the energy department before signing more contracts for renewable energy. Phasiwe was cited as saying that it does not make much sense to commit to ZAR 62 billion (USD 4.3bn/EUR 4bn) -- the estimated cost of Redstone and the power supply over 20 years -- "for something that we don’t need”.

In July the utility said the contracts awarded under bid windows 3.5, 4 and 4.5 are expected to be finalised during the 2016/17 financial year.

(ZAR 10 = USD 0.700/EUR 0.637)

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