A total of 17 bids have been received in response to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) inaugural public procurement for battery energy storage system (BESS) projects.

The BESS request for proposals was launched on March 7 with an initial bid submission deadline of July 5, which was subsequently postponed to August 2 as a result of delays to the issuance of cost estimate letters for grid connections.

The DMRE is seeking to procure BESS projects with a combined capacity of 513 MW and a minimum of four hours of storage, or at least 2 052 MWh.

The batteries are set to be installed in close proximity to five substation sites in the Northern Cape which have been specified by Eskom.

The DMRE has published a list of the 17 projects, along with the names of the project companies, which include:

• Sol Invictus 6 BESS, bid by Sol Invictus 6 (Pty) Ltd;
• Hyperion 2 BESS, bid by Cyraguard (Pty) Ltd;
• New Hope 2 BESS, bid by Lacerta Energy (Pty) Ltd;
• Impala BESS, bid by Impala Solar Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd;
• Zuurwater BESS, bid by Aggeneis PV2 (Pty) Ltd;
• Mogobe BESS, bid by AEP Mogobe (Pty) Ltd;
• Kenhardt BESS, submitted by a consortium to be incorporated;
• ACWA BESS 1, bid by ACWA BESS 1;
• Oasis Mookobi, bid by EDF Development South Africa (Pty) Ltd;
• Oasis Aggeneis, bid by EDF Development South Africa (Pty) Ltd;
• Oasis Nieuwehoop, bid by EDF Development South Africa (Pty) Ltd;
• Sonbesie BESS, bid by Sonbesie Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd;
• Boitshoko BESS; bid by Boitshoko Solar Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd;
• Red Sands BESS, bid by AGV Projects (Pty) Ltd;
• Tulip, bid by Veld PV South (Pty) Ltd;
• Protea, bid by Protea Solar Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd; and
• Neo BESS, bid by the Neo BESS Bidder Consortium.

The DMRE did not provide further details regarding the identities of the consortium members behind each bid, and neither did it indicate whether the bids were evenly spread across the five selected sites.

The substation sites selected by Eskom have been named previously as being Aggeneis, Ferrum, Garona, Mookodi, and Nieuwehoop.

The department also did not comment on the tariffs bid, saying only that the information could be provided only once the evaluation of the bids was completed.

“It is envisaged that preferred bidders will be announced within the next two months,” the DMRE told Engineering News & Mining Weekly in response to questions.