Pretoria - A 20-year power purchase agreement that Eskom and Redstone Solar Thermal Power were due to be signed has been postponed.
The agreement that was due to be signed on Thursday was postponed “purely on conditions precedent not being met” said the power utility in a statement.
“The agreement would have seen Eskom buy 100MW from the project for an estimated R50 billion for the duration of the contract,” said Eskom.
The Department of Energy launched the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPP) in 2011, which called for 3 725MW of renewable energy technologies.
Capacity under existing signed agreements is expected to be in commercial operation by the end of 2018.
Eskom concluded power purchase agreements (PPAs) with successful bidders under REIPPP.
In addition, the power utility has received assurance from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) that the PPAs costs will be treated as a pass-through for revenue regulation purposes, and will be recovered through the regulatory clearing account (RCA) process.
“To date, we have contracted for 3 901MW of renewable IPP capacity, of which 2 145MW has been connected to the grid,” said the utility.
Eskom expects 1 030MW from the REIPPP programme to be commissioned during 2016/17, including 504MW wind, 510MW solar PV, 4MW hydro and 11MW landfill.
Under the Department of Energy’s gas Peaker programme, the 670MW from Avon Peaking power plant outside Shakaskraal, in KwaZulu-Natal’s north coast, came into commercial operation last week.
The contracts awarded under bid windows 3.5, 4 and 4.5 of the REIPPP are expected to be concluded during the 2016/17 financial year.
Kiepersol substation
Meanwhile, Eskom has embarked on a project to upgrade Kiepersol substation which supplies Hazyview town and surrounding areas in Mpumalanga.
The project will increase the substation capacity from 30MVA to 100MV in order to cater for future developments in the area.
Construction work began in December 2015 and is earmarked for completion in June 2017.
“This capacity expansion upgrade will ensure network reliability and the quality of supply to the customers. The current single 66kV in-feed network will be replaced by two in-feed networks at a capacity of 132kV respectively. High voltage networks are preferred due to higher transfer capabilities, reduction in losses and minimal risk of low voltages.”
The utility said it is committed to provide continuous quality of supply to its customers during the project and beyond.
The 40MVA and 20MVA transformers have been installed to provide temporary supply for the duration of the project. – SAnews.gov.za
