Six private renewable energy developers have each signed 20-year power purchase agreements with South Africa’s electricity public utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd for construction of 13 solar photovoltaic plants sited in Western Cape, Free State and Northern Cape provinces. The PV power plants will have a combined capacity of 975 MW.
The projects were approved for construction in October 2021 under South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, a competitive tender process designed to support private sector investment into grid-connected renewable energy generation. More than 6,000 MW of generating capacity has been allocated to bidders across a variety of technologies, principally in wind and solar.