State-owned power utility Eskom has issued a tender seeking a service provider to drive the Komati power station socioeconomic development plan to assist with the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
Part of the plan includes the management and implementation of mitigation measures for the socioeconomic impacts resulting from the shutdown of the coal-fired generating units at Eskom's Komati power station. The last of the coal-fired units at Komati reached its end of operational life in October 2022 and was shut down.
"The repowering and repurposing of the power station will be funded through a concessional loan facility from the World Bank. The loan facility broadly covers the decommissioning, repurposing and repowering of the station and critical elements of the Just Energy Transition to provide a second life to the power station.
"This includes the establishment of an Agrivoltaics test facility, a containerised microgrid assembly and manufacturing facility, a training centre for employee and community members, and, importantly, a community upliftment programme that this tender seeks to address," the utility said in a statement.
The project is for a duration of about 60 months. Interested service providers can review the request for expression of interest (EOI) document on the Eskom Tender Bulletin.
Interested parties have until July 3 to submit EOIs.