Photo by: Duane Daws
The Department of Energy (DoE) has informed another 17 renewable-energy developers that they have been appointed as preferred bidders following the conclusion of the third bid-submission round under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
The bidders were informed in line with the schedule outlined for the third bid window and despite the postponement of the official media announcement to November 4.
The public announcement was postponed owing to the fact that Energy Minister Dikobe Ben Martins and his senior officials were participating in President Jacob Zuma’s State visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The DoE confirmed that it had received 93 bid responses and that the projects represented by the 17 preferred bidders had a collective installed capacity of 1 471.5 MW.
The combined allocation was shared between seven onshore wind bidders (787 MW), six solar photovolatic (PV) projects (450 MW), a 16.5 MW biomass project, a 18 MW landfill-gas bidder and two concentrated solar power (CSP) bidders (200 MW).
The DoE reported that a large number of competitive responses had been submitted, particularly from potential onshore wind and solar PV developers and that it was, therefore, considering the appointment of additional preferred bidders for those technology categories.
An announcement regarding the possible addition of preferred bidders from the third round would be made by November 20, but the DoE stressed that “no final decision on this has been taken at this time”.
The department confirmed that it had sent letters of non-appointment to 18 participants, which had failed to comply, leaving 58 bidders that could still be considered.
The appointments raise the number of renewables developers to have prevailed under South Africa’s rigorous REIPPPP process to 64, with 47 projects already at various stages of development.
The prices associated with the third-round projects were not immediately available.
The names of all the successful bidders were also not immediately available, but a consortium led by Mainstream Renewable Power confirmed that three of its large-scale wind projects in the Northern Cape had progressed to preferred-bidder status.
The company said in a statement that the projects represented a total installed capacity of 360 MW and an investment value of about R9-billion. They included the 140 MW Khobab and the 140 MW Loeriesfontein 2 wind farms, both located in the Namakwa District Municipality, and the 80 MW Noupoort wind farm, in Umsobomvu, also in the Northern Cape.
International technology group Abengoa, meanwhile, confirmed that its 100 MW parabolic-trough plant, with five-hour storage, was one of the two CSP projects selected. It said in a statement that the newly selected Xina Solar One project would form the largest solar complex in Africa together with its KaXu Solar One facility, which is currently under construction.
In addition, Werksmans Attorneys reported that it had represented Cobra Energia, of Spain, which was the other successful CSP bidder.
Financial close for the 17 projects is scheduled to be finalised by July 30, 2014.