S Africa to sign PPAs for 1.4 GW of green power on Nov 5

Oct 31, 2012 - South Africa's Department of Energy is ready to sign power purchase agreements (PPA) for 1,400 MW of green energy projects on November 5 with the 28 winning bidders in its first renewables bidding round.

The financial closing of the first bidding window of the country's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Programme (REIPP), launched in August 2011, was initially slated to happen by June 2012 but it was postponed due to several reasons, including approvals by government institutions. The Energy Department has already obtained the required approvals under the Public Finance Management Act to enter into long-term agreements with the selected bidders, it announced in a statement on Monday.

The preferred bidders under the first bidding round will fetch ZAR 47 billion (USD 5.43bn/EUR 4.17bn) of investment in renewable power generation, according to the department.

The REIPP targets the installation of 3,725 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2016. The country selected 19 more preferred projects with total capacity of 1,040 MW in May this year.

South Africa's energy minister Dipuo Peters added that there were plans for the REIPP be extended with an additional allocation of 3,200 MW by 2020. The plan, which will be officially promulgated by year-end, is to include 1,470 MW of onshore wind, 400 MW of concentrating solar power (CSP), 1,075 MW of PV, 47.5 MW of biomass, 47.5 MW of biogas, 60 MW of small-scale hydro and 100 MW of small renewable projects.

(ZAR 1 = USD 0.116/EUR 0.089)

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