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South Africa’s Department of Energy (DoE) has released a new ten-year energy strategy: the Integrated Resource Plan.   The government has made clear solar, wind and gas projects will supply most of the nation’s future generation capacity although contracted coal power plants will be developed and a further 1.5 GW of new coal generation capacity is expected by 2030.   The DoE envisages 114 MW of already-awarded solar capacity will come online next year with a further 300 MW of projects with signed power purchase agreements due to be added in 2021. Another 400 MW of contracted solar capacity is expected to be commissioned in 2022 and the DoE expects another gigawatt of newly-procured capacity in three years’ time.   The department is planning to allocate a gigawatt of solar per year in 2023, 2025 and 2028-30, with no new solar anticipated in 2024, 2026 or 2027. If those expectations are realized, South Africa would have 8.28 GW of utility-scale solar capacity in 2030, with PV supplying just 10.5% of its power mix.   Wind power capacity is expected to grow from around 1.98 GW today to 17.7 GW by the end of the decade, to make up 22.5% of the energy mix according to the Integrated Resource Plan.   Coal lingers   Coal would still account for around 43% of South Africa’s generation capacity in 2030 under the strategy, with around 33.36 GW of installed plant capacity, of which 750 MW would be procured in 2023 and the same amount in 2027.   “Beyond [the] Medupi and Kusile [thermal power stations], coal will continue to play a significant role in electricity generation in South Africa in the foreseeable future as it is the largest base of the installed generation capacity and it makes up the largest share of energy generated,” stated the strategy document. The Medupi and Kusile plants are struggling with building delays and low reliability due to “design flaws” that are compounding generation capacity shortfalls.   The DoE said around 11 GW of operational coal capacity will be decommissioned over the next decade and a further 24 GW will be shuttered in 2030-50. However, fossil fuel-based gas and diesel generation capacity is forecast to grow from around 3.83 GW to 6.38 GW in 2030, raising their share of the national power mix to 8.1%.   The strategy also provides for around 6 GW of new small scale generation capacity – termed ‘embedded generation’ in South Africa – up to 2030, without offering further specifics. “As we plan for the next decade, this technological uncertainty is expected to continue and this calls for caution as we make assumptions and [commitments] for the future in a rapidly changing environment,” the South African government stated in the document.   Still diversifying   The new plan still places renewables and storage as an opportunity to diversify South Africa’s energy mix rather than as the central pillar of a post-fossil fuel system, as is happening elsewhere around the world.   The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association welcomed the Integrated Resource Plan, which was published on Friday. The association said the publication of solar ambitions provided developers with a measure of certainty, even if the proposed future energy mix does not appear to have been based on least-cost assumptions.   “We will continue to engage the minister of DMRE [the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy] to find mechanisms to smooth out the gaps presented in 2024, 2026 and 2027, where no solar PV is envisaged to be added to the grid,” the trade body said in a press release.   The association said it noted the strategy is a document which can be amended to reflect changing scenarios and called for the government to bring forward more clean energy auction capacity under the planned fifth round of the national Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Program. Small scale solar too, could benefit from the predicted need for more energy sources, added the lobby group, noting the original call for 2 GW of small scale project capacity up to 2030 had been raised to 6 GW in the final strategy document.   “The allocation to embedded generation – based [on] short term capacity and energy gaps – are great portents for the sector’s future,” said the solar body.

two solar projects are 126 MWp and also 130 MWp each in size, situated in South Africa's North West Province. Both projects are developed as well as will be operated

up power generation capacity is expected to be in operation for two decades. South Africa has actually set a goal of reaching internet zero emissions by 2050. Under its

attached to the grid "immediately", provided the ongoing energy challenges South Africa is encountering. State utility Eskom has actually been executing power

to provide 200 MW of solar power to mines as well as smelters of Tronox in South Africa. The news comes also as closer home in India, steel major ArcelorMittal has

decision by South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) to allocate 6GW of new large-scale solar over the next decade has been welcomed by the

South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has actually released a tech-neutral purchase of 2 GW of temporary risk-mitigation ability, which will

were bid based on sites located in the sundrenched Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The projects awarded to Scatec are the only projects with favored bidders

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.

power as well as solar industry: Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and also Tunisia. The study also states the existing obstacles to

bargain will certainly bring Norway-based Magnora's South African renewables portfolio to around 1.7 GW as it tackles AGV's project rights of more than 800MW of solar

in the Nordics. In February 2021, Magnora made its access right into the South African renewables market with the acquisition of an 850MW project portfolio. The

a 51% stake in the 50-MW Khi Solar One concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in South Africa. Pending approval, Cox Energy will become the majority owner, with the

been awarded preferred bidder status for 257MW of grid storage capacity in South Africa, out of five projects awarded in the country's first BESS competition. The

(SEZ) alongside the Port of Ngqura, a deepwater port on the East coastline of South Africa. Pre-feasibility researches for the project have actually been completed as