South Africa to tender 6.4 GW of solar and wind, 513 MW of storage and 4.5 GW of conventional generation

• The country's regulator has approved a government plan to tender for 11.81 GW of power generation capacity on top of the 2 GW tender opened last month.

South Africa's minister of mineral resources and energy, Gwede Mantashe, has announced the National Energy Regulator of South Africa has approved a government plan to tender almost 12 GW of power generation capacity.

The decision will enable the government to procure generation capacity in line with the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2019), said Mantashe. The IRP aims for up to 6 GW of new large scale solar by 2030, as well as 6 GW of distributed-generation capacity.

The government's new procurement scheme comes on top of 2 GW of short-term, risk-mitigation generation capacity the government is tendering through a technology-neutral exercise launched late last month. The first tender for wind and solar power will likely constitute the long-expected fifth round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP).

"The capacity determined is 6,800 MW, to be generated from renewable energy sources (photovoltaic and wind), 513 MW to be generated from storage, 3,000 MW to be generated from gas and 1,500 MW to be generated from coal," said Mantashe. "Work has commenced with key stakeholders, including the [energy] buyer, to firm up on the framework critical for the bankability of the program," said Mantashe, without revealing further details.

The International Renewable Energy Agency estimated South Africa had 2,561 MW of solar generation capacity at the end of last year, most of it driven by the REIPPPP incentives scheme.