Name and Location
Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) – second window, 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:
• Solar Capital De Aar 3 (75 MW)
• Sishen solar facility (74 MW)
• Aurora (9 MW)
• Vredendal (8.8 MW)
• Linde (36.8 MW)
• Dreunberg (69.6 MW)
• Jasper Power Company (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), Eastern Cape (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 include Stortemelk Hydro (4.3 MW) and Neusberg hydroelectric project A (10 MW) for a combined 14.3 MW of capacity.

The one CSP project named was 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 was concluded in May this year.

Latest Developments
The solar PV projects:
Solar Capital began construction on the 75 MW De Aar solar PV project in December 2012, which will comprise more than one-million solar panels.

Also in the Northern Cape, Investec Corporate and Institutional Banking and Nedbank Capital announced financial closure for the Sishen solar PV power plant in July.  Both companies have acted as joint mandated lead arrangers for R1.8-billion of senior debt, with the primary shareholders Acciona Energy South Africa and Aveng Africa.

Scatec Solar signed the final agreements with South Africa’s Department of Energy in May for two PV projects that will be located at Linde, in the Northern Cape, and Dreunberg, in the Eastern Cape. 

A consortium comprising SolarReserve, the Kensani Group, and Intikon Energy has successfully closed project financing for the Jasper solar PV project, in the Northern Cape, in May this year. Google participated in the project by becoming an equity investor at the financial close and will help fund the project during construction.

SunEdison’s 60 MW Boshoff solar park will be developed in the Free State with $250-million in funding from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

The wind projects:
Acciona Energy and Aveng’s Gouda wind park, in the Western Cape, will be equipped with forty-six 3 MW Acciona windpower turbines, totalling 138 MW of installed capacity.

Cennergi reached financial close on the Amakhala Emoyeni wind farm project, in the Eastern Cape, in June. The wind farm will comprise 56 Nordex turbines. Significant work on the site will formally begin in 2014.

Leading wind turbine supplier Vestas has received an order to supply 31 turbines to Cennergi’s other wind farm project – the Tsitsikamma community wind farm project.

The Tsitsikamma facility will comprise 31 V112-3.0 MW wind turbines and Vestas says the first turbine will be delivered during the second quarter of 2015.

The contract includes the supply, installation and commissioning of the turbines, along with a VestasOnline Business supervisory control and data acquisition solution. It also includes the civil and electrical works and a 15-year service agreement.

Vestas has secured orders representing about 40% of the wind project allocation in the first two REIPPPP rounds.

GDF Suez’s West Coast 1 wind farm project was awarded preferred-bidder status in the second window of the REIPPPP in May 2012. The project signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Eskom and an implementation agreement with the Department of Energy in May 2013 and reached financial close in June.

The Grassridge wind farm project, in the Eastern Cape, which is being developed by InnoWind, is expected to be commissioned at the end of 2014.

InnoWind is also developing the Chaba wind energy project. Construction is expected to start in the third quarter of 2013 and the commissioning of the first turbines in the third quarter of 2014. Commercial operations are scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The hydro projects:
Entura has undertaken the engineering and design work necessary to develop Mulilo Renewable Energy’s Neusberg hydropower project, in the Northern Cape, for bid submission and financial close. 

It will also continue its role as the design and engineering subconsultant to the civil works contractor and be responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the electrical and mechanical works.

Meanwhile, construction on Nuplanet’s Stortemelk Hydro project, in the Free State, is expected to start in October this year after a power purchase agreement was signed with Eskom in May this under the DoE’s REIPPPP.

CSP projects:
ACWA Power’s Bokpoort CSP will be developed on a build, own, operate basis, with a total power generating capacity of 50 MWe net power output. The project will be equipped with the largest thermal storage capacity ever adopted for a similar operational size. It is one of the most efficient solar plants worldwide operating in this class of capacity and technology, yielding a record-high generation in excess of 200 GWh/y to support the power grid of South Africa.

The project reached financial close in June this year.

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.
Windlab Developments South Africa, tel +27 21 701 1292 or +27 87 802 5999; or fax (within South Africa) 0800 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.
Cennergi, tel +27 12 675 6655 or email comms@cennergi.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, or 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, tel +27 21 430 0796, fax +27 21 430 0795/+27 86 538 8365 or email paschal@solarcapital.com.