As the country concluded its first bid round under its new IPP Procurement Program, South Africa received 53 bids valued at $12 billion to build 2.1 GW of renewable energy projects. And while the amount of interest was not a shock, the ratio between the types of projects was unexpected considering how much interest South Africa’s wind energy sector garners.
Frost & Sullivan energy and power systems analyst Gareth Blankenberg said to Alternative Energy Africa: “The total level of interest in the first round of the Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Program is roughly in line with expectations, however the split between the different generation technologies is not: the expectation was that wind would dominate in capacity terms, but the reductions in feed in tariffs for solar PV in the traditional markets within Europe is probably behind the rise in interest locally.”
Nearly 50% of the tenders bid on wind farms, 48% went after solar energy projects, and hydropower garnered the remaining 2%. The winning bids will be announced no later than early December. The second bid round is expected to close in March.
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