- 102 projects will compete in South Africa’s REIPPPP 5th round.
- Developers would likely have to deploy projects in provinces other than the Northern Cape.
- Projects not selected could still be developed given the recent Embedded Generations Limit review regulations.
According to a list published by South Africa’s Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, 39 wind projects and 63 solar projects will compete in the fifth round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP). This round seeks to procure 1GW of solar PV and 1.6GW of wind power. The large amount of bids received in this round indicates that investors are still confident in the country’s renewable energy market sector.
However, following the recent report that Eskom would have transmission constraints with the addition of new generation constraints in the Northern Cape, it is likely that most of the successful solar bids will need to be developed in locations in other provinces in the country. Some projects not selected for the fifth round could still go ahead especially given the recent regulations change that ups the capacity requirement for embedded generation projects without licenses to 100MW.