ENERGY and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has announced the eight preferred bidders for the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
Eskom has been battling to keep the lights on while conducting maintenance on its ageing infrastructure.
The poor performance of Eskom’s plants, which subsequently requires the utility to implement frequent power cuts, continues to constrain economic recovery.
“The evaluation process has resulted in the selection of 8 Preferred Bids totalling 1 845 megawatts and a further 3 eligible bids totalling 150 megawatts, ” said Mantashe.
“The three Eligible Bids are subject to value for money proposition in line with the provisions in the Request for Proposal. It is important to note that these Three bidders are within the 2 000MW capacity threshold in terms of the evaluation rankings, but their announcement can only be made following satisfactory value for money propositions.”
The tender for 2 000 megawatts (MW), launched two years ago when South Africa suffered some of the worst power cuts in a decade, aimed to find the cheapest and quickest options to ease a shortage that has cost the continent’s most industrialised economy billions of dollars.
Mantashe said these eight projects will inject a total private sector investment amount of R45 billion to the South African economy, with an average local content of 50% during the construction period.
South African entity participation from these projects is 51%, with black ownership at 41%.
“About 3 800 job opportunities will be created during the 18 months construction period and a further 13 500 during the 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) term,” said Mantashe.
“The Preferred Bidders are required to reach Financial Close by no later than the end of July 2021. Due to the urgency to bring power online, this date is not negotiable. It is for the Preferred Bidders to manage all the risks to reach financial close.”
It is envisaged that, first power from these projects will be connected to the grid from August 2022.
Here are the eight preferred bidders:
- ACWA Power Project DAO
- Karpowership SA Coega
- Karpowership SA Richards Bay
- Karpowership SA Saldanha
- Mulilo Total Hudra Storage
- Oya Energy Hybrid Facility
- Umoyilanga Energy
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