South Africa’s Department of Energy (DoE) expects to begin formally moving ahead with plans for a so-called ‘expedited’ renewable-energy procurement process by the end of June.

The intention is to offer projects that narrowly failed selection as preferred bidders during the first four bid windows under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) another opportunity to make the cut.

Acting director-general Dr Wolsey Barnard tells Engineering News Online that the details of the “reopener” are still being finalised, but that it is likely that certain project developers will be approached by the end of the month to resubmit their bids, possibly with some pricing, or economic development tweaks.

Government is aiming to procure a further 1 800 MW under the expedited round, with the intention of announcing the preferred bidders before the end of the year.

The procurement follows on from a recent decision to extend the allocation under bid window four by a further 1 084 MW, distributed among 13 wind and solar photovoltaic projects. Initially, only 13 projects were named in April, but Barnard said government decided to extend the allocation, owing to the competitive nature of the 77 bids received during the round.

In total 92 renewables projects, with a combined nameplate capacity of 5 243 MW, have been procured since the announcement of the first REIPPPP preferred bidders in late 2012 and the DoE indicates that the programme has resulted in investment commitments so far of R193-billion.

Barnard says 38 projects are already delivering electricity into the grid, with by far the majority of the projects having been delivered either on time or ahead of time and within budget.

In addition, the tariffs bid have fallen markedly from round to round, with the prices associated with wind projects in the last bid window having fallen by over 70% when compared with the first bid window. Similarly solar PV tariffs had declined by around 60% over the period.

“This has given confidence to enlarge the renewables allocation and extend the process beyond renewable energy,” Barnard explains, noting that between bid windows four and five (the latter to be launched under a “streamlined” tender probably early next year) South Africa will have procured 3 000 MW more than initially allocated.

BIG COGEN PUSH

In addition, similar competitive-bidding templates will also be applied, in parallel, for the procurement of baseload coal and cogeneration capacity.

Barnard says the intention is to accelerate the cogeneration independent power producer (IPP) programme, which is seen as critical to helping South Africa address some of its near-term supply deficits.

The Cogen IPP request for bids was released in early June, which 800 MW allocated for the first bid window.

The allocation has reportedly been broken down across three technologies, including: 200 MW of waste-to-energy projects; 250 MW for combined heat and power developments; and 350 MW for industrial biomass.

“We really want to push hard on the cogen programme,” Barnard said, reporting that the first bid submission date has been set as August 10, with the announcement of preferred bidders to be made on September 17.

Projects bid for during the first round must be capable of beginning commercial operation before November 17, 2016.