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South Africa is planning on launching procurement rounds for solar and wind energy generation and energy storage systems.
- The country is looking to diversify its energy mix, which is heavily reliant on coal.
South Africa intends to launch three different rounds to procure 6,800MW of renewable energy over the next twelve months. This was made known in a presentation by the ruling African National Congress (ANC). South Africa, which heavily depends on coal, is looking towards increasing renewable’s share in the energy mix.
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South Africa has suffered from increasing power outages and load shedding in recent years as the state-owned utility Eskom have struggled to cope and attract investments. Fixing Eskom and increasing generation capacity has been slow.
The presentation, which was at a three-day meeting of ANC officials indicated that the government intends to launch the first renewables round in January or February for 2,600 MW of wind and solar, the second 2,600 MW round in August and a third for 1,600 MW in January or February 2022. A procurement round for energy storage would start by Septemeber for 500MW.