The South African government has increased the wind energy allocation for Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme bid window six to 3.2GW due to the urgent need for increased capacity in the electricity system.
The procurement allocations now stand at 3.2GW for wind energy and 1GW sought from solar energy suppliers.
The power producer programme is aimed at urgently addressing the country’s energy deficit by adding more megawatts to the grid through renewable energy sources.
“Due to the urgency required to resolve the electricity supply crisis, government decided to proceed with increasing wind allocation … in line with the second determination of 2020. Rather than delay this request for proposals (RFP) for all requests to be approved, government opted to issue the current RFP for 4.2GW, as opposed to delaying the entire bid window,” a statement said.
ALSO READ: South Africa imposes higher anti-dumping duties on tyres from China
“A further announcement, regarding the remaining 1GW of solar PV, will be made following the conclusion of (energy regulator) Nersa’s process regarding the concurrence of the new determination,” the statement said.
The total capacity government now plans to add to the grid following bid window 6 is 5.2GW, to be added over the next 24 months.
Source: Techcentral
