It is becoming clear by the day that Eskom might not be able to address the growing energy demand by boosting its capacity any time soon, what with its major projects at Kusile and Medupi nowhere near reaching completion. Thus, government has turned to Independent Power Producers (IPP) to overcome shortages.
In a landmark development in government’s involvement with IPPS, Minister of Energy, Tina Joemat-Petterson announced that bids from 13 companies had been successful.
Foreseeing the possibility that the IPPs’ supply might not suffice, Joemat-Petterson revealed that her Department might request Nersa to increase the threshold by 6 300 MW.
Under the flagship renewable IPP Programme, so far 4 322 MW has been procured in less than four years.
“Once completed they will produce another 1 121 MW to the national grid. This brings the amount of IPPs to 79 with a total of 5 243 MW across all renewable windows.
A procurement process, seeking to procure 50MW of the 200MW determined for small projects, is currently underway. 29 bids have been received totaling 139MW and evaluations of bids will be finalised during April 2015 for subsequent announcement.
