Name and Location
Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) – second window, nationwide, South Africa.

Client
Department of Energy (DoE).

Project Description
The DoE has announced 19 companies as the preferred bidders for the second window of the REIPPPP, which closed on March 5, 2012. The 19 projects represent 1 043.9 MW of capacity.

The preferred bidders include nine solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, seven onshore wind projects, two small hydropower projects and one concentrated solar power (CSP) project.

The solar PV projects named are:
• De Aar 3 (75 MW)
• Sishen solar facility (74 MW)
• Aurora (9 MW)
• Vredendal (8.8 MW)
• Linde (40 MW)
• Dreunberg (75 MW)
• Jasper solar PV project (75 MW)
• Boshoff solar park (60 MW)
• Upington solar PV (8.9 MW)

The combined capacity of the solar PV projects that progressed to the preferred-bidder stage was 417.1 MW.

The wind projects listed include:
• Gouda wind facility (135.2 MW)
• Amakhala Emoyeni, Phase 1 (137.9 MW)
• Tsitsikamma Community wind farm (94.8 MW)
• West Coast 1 (90.8 MW)
• Waainek (23.4 MW)
• Grassridge (59.8 MW)
• Chaba (20.6 MW)

The wind projects collectively represent 562.5 MW of capacity.

The preferred small hydropower bidders are Stortemelk Hydro project (4.3 MW) and Neusberg hydroelectric project A (10 MW) for a combined 14.3 MW of capacity.

The one CSP project named is the 50 MW Bokpoort CSP project.

Value
The second-round projects are collectively valued at nearly R28-billion.

Duration
The signing by the DoE and Eskom of the second tranche of power purchase agreements (PPAs) was concluded in May this year.

Latest Developments
Solar PV projects:
Solar Capital’s 75 MW De Aar 3 solar project started supplying power to Eskom’s power grid in the De Aar municipality on December 3, 2013.

Acciona Energy South Africa and Aveng Africa’s R1.8-billion Sishen solar PV power project, in the Northern Cape, is expected to be completed by December this year.

Commercial operations have started at Scatec Solar’s R1.1-billion, 40 MW Linde solar PV project, located near Hanover in South Africa’s Northern Cape. The project incorporates solar-tracking technology and is the Norwegian group’s second utility-scale solar PV plant completed under the DoE’s REIPPPP, the other solar PV project being the 75 MW, R1.79-billion Dreunberg project, in the Eastern Cape.

SolarReserve’s Jasper solar PV project, currently under construction in the Northern Cape, is expected to come online this year. Once operational, it will produce 182 000 MWh of energy a year, enough to power about 80 000 homes.
SunEdison’s 60 MW Boshoff solar park will be developed in the Free State and is scheduled to begin generating electricity in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Wind projects:
Acciona Energy and Aveng’s Gouda wind park, in the Western Cape, is expected to come on line between the fourth quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015.

Construction started on Cennergi’s Amakhala Emoyeni wind farm project, in the Eastern Cape, in August. The wind farm will comprise 56 Nordex turbines. The first 2.5 MW wind turbine is expected to be erected by June 2015. The entire project should enter commercial operations by mid-2016.

Cennergi’s Tsitsikamma Community wind farm, in the Eastern Cape, will comprise 31 V112-3.0 MW Vesta wind turbines. The project is expected to be operational in September 2016.

The West Coast 1 wind farm project, located 130 km north of Cape Town, will consist of 47 wind turbines and is expected to reach commercial operation in June 2015.
The transport of the first components to site for Innowind’s Grassridge wind farm, in the Eastern Cape, started in August. The farm is expected to start producing electricity in 2015.

InnoWind is also developing the Chaba wind energy project. Construction on the project started in March this year. The first turbines are expected to be operational and start producing electricity in July 2015.

Hydro projects:
Kakamas Hydro Electric Power’s 10 MW Neusberg project is a run-of-river small hydropower project under construction on the Orange river, near Kakamas, in the Northern Cape. Entura officially started construction on the project in October 2013, with completion expected in January 2015.

Meanwhile, construction on Nuplanet’s Stortemelk Hydro project, in the Free State, was expected to start in October last year after a PPA was signed with Eskom in May.

CSP projects:
ACWA Power’s Bokpoort CSP project will be developed on a build, own and operate basis, with a total power generating capacity of 50 MWe net power output. The CSP plant is expected to be commercially operational by the end of 2015.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Suzlon Energy (wind turbines) and Vestas (wind turbines).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Cennergi CEO Thomas Garner, tel +27 12 675 6669 or email Thomas.Garner@cennergi.com; or communications tel +27 12 675 6655 or email comms@cennergi.com.
Windlab Developments South Africa, tel +27 21 701 1292 or +27 87 802 5999 or fax (within South Africa) +27 800 981 222.
Suzlon Energy investor relations Dhaval Vakil, tel +91 22 6639 3252 or email dhaval.vakil@suzlon.com.
Vestas, tel +45 97 30 00 00.
EDF Energies Nouvelles, tel +33 1 40 90 23 00 or fax +33 1 40 90 23 66.
Mulilo Renewable Energy, tel +27 21 934 5268 or email info@mulilo.com.
Entura, tel +61 3 6245 4500 or email info@entura.com.au.
NuPlanet project development Anton-Louis Olivier, tel +27 12 349 2944, fax +27 12 349 2944 or email al@nuplanet.co.za.
Aurecon, tel +27 12 427 2000, fax +27 86 556 0521 or email tshwane@aurecongroup.com.
Eigenbau, tel +27 11 244 8700, fax +27 11 465 2080 or email eigenbau@mweb.co.za.
Andrtiz investor relations Petra Wolf, tel +43 316 6902 2722.
TMC operations and maintenance, tel +27 12 349 2944 or fax +27 12 349 2944.
ACWA, tel +966 1 283 5555 or fax +966 1 283 5500.
InnoWind, tel +27 41 487 2418 or fax +27 41 484 3038.
GDF Suez Energy Southern Africa head of business development Sanjith Mungroo, tel +27 11 209 9225 or email Sanjith.Mungroo@gdfsuez.com.
Acciona Energy, tel +34 91 663 28 50 or fax +34 91 663 28 51.
Aveng, tel +27 11 779 2800.
SunEdison, tel +1 866 786 3347 or fax +1 443 909 7150.
SolarReserve, Andi Plocek, tel +1 310 315 2233 or email Andi.Plocek@SolarReserve.com.
Iberdrola director of external communication Jesús García López, tel +34 91 784 23 58.
Kensani Group, Coenraad Krige, tel +27 21 674 0304, fax +27 21 683 0577 or email Coenraad@kensanicapital.co.za.
Intikon Energy, Stephen Donnelly, email Stephen.donnelly@intikon.com.
Scatec Solar South Africa project development Jed Borrill, tel +27 11 784 2777 or email jed.borrill@scatecsolar.com.
Solar Capital chairman Paschal Phelan, tel +27 21 430 0796, fax +27 21 430 0795/+27 86 538 8365 or email paschal@solarcapital.com.