South Africa has released the list of preferred bidders for solar and battery storage projects to be developed under its Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) and Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (BESIPPPP).

These tenders were floated last December, and the bid window 7 (BW7) of the program aims to develop 3.2 GW of wind and 1.8 GW of solar projects. Of the bids received in August 2024, wind projects were undersubscribed with 1,692 MW, and solar was oversubscribed with 8,526 MW.

REIPPPP

Eight solar projects were awarded preferred bidder status under REIPPPP BW7. The projects are located in the Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Free State and the North West provinces.

Infinity Power Holding SA won six projects with 1,280 MW cumulative capacity for tariff ranging between R420.72 (~$22.59)/MWh and R492.20 (~$26.43)/MWh.

Mulilo Renewable Project Developments and Scatec Solar Africa each won projects of 240 MW capacity, quoting a tariff of R490.1 (~$26.32)/MWh and R486.86 (~$26.15)/MWh, respectively.

The Department of Energy received 48 bids for a total capacity of 10.2 GW, including 40 from solar photovoltaic and eight from onshore wind projects. Thirty solar projects and four onshore wind projects were evaluated as compliant with the request for proposals requirements.

Of these, eight solar photovoltaic projects, totaling over 1.7 GW, were selected.

Total investments from the eight preferred solar bidders were R31.4 billion (~$1.69 billion). The South African equity participation will be 49% across all the preferred bidders.

BESIPPPP

Eight battery energy storage projects were awarded preferred bidder status under the BESIPPPP Bid Window 2. The projects are located in the Free State, North West and Gauteng provinces.

Mulilo won five projects with a cumulative capacity of 384 MW with evaluation prices ranging between R2,117.28 (~$113.72)/MWh and R2,437.61 (~$130.93)/MWh.

AMEA Power won two projects of 154 MW cumulative capacity with evaluation prices of R2,403.37 (~$129.09)/MWh and R2,382.59 (~$127.97)/MWh.

EDF South Africa won a project of 77 MW with an evaluation price of R2,688.14 (~$144.39)/MWh.

The department received 31 responses and selected eight bidders with a total investment of R12.8 billion (~$687.53 million).

In 2021, South Africa selected 25 wind and solar power projects to be developed by private developers under REIPPPP. The projects amount to 2.58 GW of renewable capacity and are expected to attract private sector investment of about R50 billion (~$2.68 billion).

Last December, South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy invited bids under the REIPPPP (Phase-VII) to develop 1.8 GW solar and 3.2 GW wind projects.