If another failed bid window in the country’s renewable energy procurement programme is to be avoided, and the much-needed 4 GW of renewable energy capacity that needs to be added to the grid each year until 2030 is to eventuate, the employment of multiple solutions and improved energy mechanisms to optimise existing transmission infrastructure capacity is required, states the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA).

The industry body says interim short-term solutions are necessary to allow Eskom more time to implement its Transmission Development Plan.

SAWEA says it has engaged in efforts to tackle the issues regarding access to the grid and unlocking grid capacity since early last year. It has also been urging key stakeholders to prioritise transmission builds.

However, more than a year later, with SAWEA having reviewed the 2022/23 Grid Connection Capacity Assessment report, the industry is faced with limited available grid capacity, particularly in areas with high wind resource potential.

SAWEA CEO Niveshen Govender says the constricted grid capacity was widely known before the last public procurement bidding round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

“Following the Bid Window 6 upset, when not a single wind project advanced to preferred bidder status, owing to grid constraints in the Cape provinces, it has become increasingly important to understand the methods that were used to allocate the grid capacity, especially to ensure access, fairness and transparency for both private and public procurement,” Govender adds.

While he commends the work done by Eskom so far, he emphasises that the Grid Allocation Rules need to be finalised urgently to provide clarity to the market and ensure there are no delays in allocating grid capacity to renewable energy projects.

He further explains that the necessary modification of the Grid Allocation Rules goes beyond the short term, as optimal management will be necessary once the country finds itself in possession of a more robust transmission system that sufficiently serves the country’s energy needs.

SAWEA highlights another short-term measure to relieve grid capacity constraints as the pairing and co-location of wind and solar plants to a single transmission connection point.  

This would provide Eskom with increased uptake of power at a particular point.

“There are matters of grid balancing and curtailment that need to be considered and well managed for such solutions to be employed. SAWEA believes this is technically viable [and is] looking towards stakeholders to work with the wind industry to create mechanisms to add new generation capacity,” Govender notes.

Considering that it has been proven in global energy markets that co-location of wind, solar PV and energy storage technologies offers more stable, predictable and dispatchable power output, the option of shared grid connections makes sense in efforts to optimise the current grid infrastructure, he adds.

“Beyond the economics, international examples of energy planning demonstrate that co-location is a viable consideration if we are to optimise the grid.

“This is simply because wind production peaks in the late afternoon and continues throughout the night, which complements solar production during the day, hence we can expect that developers will seriously consider this, especially as it offers feasible cost reductions that will benefit the country,” Govender concludes.