The South African government has announced plans to launch three rounds of tenders for the development of 6.8 GW of renewable energy in the country. As per the schedule, the first cycle will be launched by the first week of February 2021.
Under the first round, 2.6 GW of solar and wind capacity will be auctioned. Similarly, the second phase of the auction to be held in August 2021 will allot 2.6 GW and the third phase to be held in January 2022 will allot 1.6 GW of wind and solar power.
The South African Government, along with the three rounds of renewable energy tenders are planning to invite bids for the construction of 4.5 GW of gas and coal-fired power stations. Additionally, the South African government has also proposed tenders for electricity storage which are expected to be launched in September 2021. Under the proposal, companies will compete for the storage of 500 MW of electricity. The purpose of launching tenders for load shedding is to increase the installed capacity of South Africa which faces problems associated with load shedding. Thus, adding storage capacities can offer stability to the grid.
In February 2020, the government of South Africa announced that it would aim to integrate more renewable energy into the grid after experiencing power cuts on a large scale. The country currently has an operating renewable capacity of about 2.5 GW; 77 per cent of its electricity is supplied by coal power.
