Cape Town - Cape Town Independent Power Producers (IPPs) showcased the role renewable energy has played in addressing the energy crisis amid the scramble for more energy to be added to the national grid.
South Africa’s renewables programme has resulted in more than 6 000MW of generation capacity being allocated to bidders across a variety of technologies, principally in wind and solar through the Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP), which is aimed at bringing additional megawatts onto the country’s electricity system.
Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said: “Today, South Africa is witnessing a rapid growth in private sector investments in the form of Independent Power Projects. We note a similar trend is emerging on the rest of the continent. But we must ensure Africans become active participants in these projects.”
Red Rocket, an integrated renewable energy IPP based in Cape Town, provides the full life cycle for all renewable technologies: solar, wind, biomass and hydro, and has 1 000MW of projects in operations, under construction and near financial close in South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Mali.
Red Rocket CEO Matteo Brambilla was pleased with how clean energy had been embraced in the past few years and said the company’s landmark signing with Eskom last week spoke to how well IPPs were viewed and their ability to collaborate to address the energy crisis.
“We believe a solid case has been made for this already. A regional example is our wind project, Roggeveld, on the border of the Northern and Western Cape provinces.
“It has an installed capacity of 147MW and a contracted capacity of 140MW. The Roggeveld wind farm has been feeding much-needed electricity into the Eskom grid,” Brambilla said.
Red Rocket won three onshore wind projects in South Africa’s Bid Window 5, one of the largest wins by a domestic IPP.
Scatec, another renewable energy solutions provider in Cape Town, entered the South African market in 2010 to help the country install more than 8GW of solar by 2030 and with 448MW in operation, is a major solar player in the country. It develops new projects across Africa.
Scatec SubSahara Africa general manager Jan Fourie said: “My view is that we need all hands on deck to solve the energy crisis. That means rooftop PV, wheeling, behind-the-meter installations, battery energy storage and energy-efficiency measures.
“One can now concretely work to deliver projects to private sector off-takers and hence there has been a big up-tick in market activity and some large projects have reached financial close.”
However, Fourie said some announcements still needed to find their way into law and cutting red tape would somewhat assist with shortening project implementation timelines, but financing and constructing projects still required a good deal of time.