Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has announced the preferred bidders under the Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (BESIPPPP) Bid Window 3, which sees Mulilo and Scatec appointed to undertake the five projects.
The 100 MWh Hex BESS project, the first of its kind in South Africa, was officially opened by Eskom in November 2023.
These two independent power producers will in total develop 616 MW/2 464 MWh of new battery storage capacity, with an investment value of R9.5 billion across five substation sites, all in the Free State.
Ramokgopa said the Battery Energy Storage Programme is a critical initiative aimed at improving South Africa’s power system by providing essential ancillary services and increasing grid capacity through energy storage.
BW 3 of the BESIPPP Programme proved to be highly competitive, attracting 33 bid submissions with the bids reflecting a decrease in the average evaluation price – of 40% and 8% compared to Bid Windows 1 and 2 prices respectively.
From the submissions, the South African IPP, Mulilo, emerged as the preferred bidder for four of the sites:
- The 124 MW Bloemhoek BESS project at the Theseus substation
- The 123 MW Erfdeel BESS project at the Everest substation
- The 123 MW Retreat BESS project at the Merapi substation
- The 123 MW Vanilla BESS project at the Harvard substation
Scatec, which is based in Norway and has a well-established South African-Sub-Saharan Africa office, was announced the preferred bidder for the fifth site, the 123 MW Haru BESS project at the Leander substation.
Ramokgopa highlighted the preferred bidders’ specific commitments in respect of:
- Black shareholdings of the IPP Project companies, the construction companies and the operations contractors
- The number of job opportunities to be created
- Local content spend through construction, operations and maintenance
- Preferential procurement from Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment companies, black-owned enterprises, qualifying small enterprises, exempted micro enterprises and black women owned companies
- Supplier development, skills development and educational support as well as enterprise development and local socio-economic development initiatives.
As with the previous two bidding rounds, the projects are procured under a 15-year power purchase agreement with the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA) as the buyer. They are expected to reach commercial close in the coming eight months and begin commercial operation by January 2028.
For more information visit: www.sanews.gov.za