Public renewables announcement postponed owing to DRC diary clash

29th October 2013

By: Terence Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

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The public announcement of South Africa’s next set of preferred renewable-energy bidders was postponed from the scheduled date of October 29 to November 4, owing to the fact that Energy Minister Dikobe Ben Martins and his senior officials are participating in President Jacob Zuma’s State visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

However, winning bidders were notified on Wednesday as to the results of the third bid-submission round under the Department of Energy’s (DoE’s) Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

The participation of a high-level DoE delegation in the DRC visit, which takes place on October 29 and 30, has been linked to the anticipated signing of a treaty that could open the way for the development of the Grand Inga hydroelectric project.

Third-round bidding closed on August 19, with the DoE seeking to procure around 1 165 MW, with 2 460 MW of an initial 3 625 MW allocation having already been allocated across 47 projects.

Observers are particularly interested to learn what prices have been offered, with some speculating that pricing for solar photovoltaic projects has been particularly aggressive.

Many developers have lauded the REIPPPP process, although some have described it as overly bureaucratic.

It is also set to continue into subsequent rounds, with the DoE having already confirmed a fourth submission deadline of August 18, 2014, following a Ministerial determination indicating that the DoE will procure an additional 3 200 MW of renewables capacity over the coming few years. The DoE has also set a closing date of March 31, 2014, for a dedicated concentrated solar power bidding round.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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