The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that a further 3 200 MW of energy will be procured by 2020 under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP), over and above the 3 725 MW already sought. Acting Chief Director of the DOE, Thabang Audat, said that the proposal has been sent to National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for approval.

The date of the approval from Nersa is still unknown but Audat said that most of the new capacity sought will be reserved for solar projects.Just over 1 000 MW is unallocated after the closure of the first two bidding rounds and the third round, which as delayed, is expected to close in May next year. Audat also revealed that the 28 first-round bidders should be ready to meet financial close by early November, which was also delayed at the close was expected in June.

This delay was caused by the purchase agreements to be signed by Eskom which ran into a glitch. This means that there would be just under 4.3 GW of capacity available in future bidding windows.

Source: photon.info