Two 75-MW apiece solar photovoltaic (PV) projects bid under the much-delayed Bid Window Five (BW5) of South Africa’s public renewables procurement programme have officially advanced to commercial close and will enter construction in early 2024.

The projects are Grootspruit, in the Free State, and Graspan, in the Northern Cape, and will be built and operated by ENGIE in partnership with Pele Green Energy.

Both facilities are expected to be commissioned by the end of 2025.

In a statement, ENGIE said that commercial close had followed the signing of the power purchase and implementation agreements with Eskom and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in December 2022.

The projects were selected as preferred bidders in October 2021, along with 23 other wind and solar PV projects, which collectively offered the lowest tariffs ever achieved under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

However, several projects encountered serious difficulties because of the price surge and supply-chain pressures associated with several Covid-related lockdowns in China and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A total of 12 BW5 projects, with a combined capacity of 1 159 MW, have since reached commercial close and are in construction.

The remaining projects have until the end of December to achieve that milestone.

ENGIE South Africa CEO Mohamed Hoosen expressed delight in the fact that Grootspruit and Graspan had achieved commercial close and indicated that it underlined the group’s long-term commitment to South Africa, where it already operated a portfolio comprising more than 1 000 MW.

Pele Green Energy MD Gqi Raoleka described the milestone they had reached as “another significant step towards a positive contribution to the national agenda, as well as a long-term energy solution for South Africa”, which experienced its worst-ever year for loadshedding in 2023.