In April 2021, the government launched bids for 2,600MW of renewable energy, split between wind and solar power.
On Thursday, minerals and energy minister Gwede Mantashe announced that there were 102 bids received, of which 25 projects were approved. These 25 fell just short of the target megawatts, with 2,583MW worth of projects having been approved. But while this is good news in terms of adding power to the country’s ailing electricity grid, Mantashe warned that this was not a quick-fix solution.
“Power from these preferred bidder projects is expected to be connected to the grid within 18 months of signing commercial agreements now set for the end of January 2022. “It is unfortunate that this announcement happens at a time when the country is experiencing load-shedding due to unavailability of the Eskom power generation units. Noting that typical grid scale projects have a minimum of about 36 months before they can produce power into the grid, the immediate solution to our electricity challenges lies in getting the existing plants to perform in a predictable and stable manner,” said Mantashe.