South Africa, under its Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Program (REIPP), approved $5.4bn to develop clean energy projects and reduce dependence on coal energy.

The country’s energy minister Dipuo Peters said the government has agreed for the construction of 28 wind, solar, and geothermal projects to generate nearly 1.4GW of electricity from renewables.

Peters announced that contracts are due to be signed on 5 November 2012 and expected to begin operations between 2014 and 2016.

The minister was quoted by Reuters are saying, “These bidders will be investing about 47 billion rand ($5.4 billion) in power generation and will create a number of jobs during construction and operation of these power plants.”

South Africa plans to approve 19 more renewable energy projects, with combined capacity to generate 1,043.9MW. The projects are currently in the REIPP’s second stage, and are expected to be finalized by March 2013, reported the news agency.

The country aims to generate 3,200MW of power from renewable sources by 2020 to improve the national electricity system while reducing carbon emissions.

 

 

Source: http://solar.energy-business-review.com