ENGIE is pleased to announce that it has reached commercial close for two solar photovoltaic power plants under Bid Window Five (BW5) of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
This milestone follows the signing of the power purchase and implementation agreements with Eskom and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, in December 2022.
The two projects, each at 75 MW of contracted capacity will be built and operated by ENGIE in partnership with Pele Green Energy. Grootspruit PV will be constructed in the Free State province, while Graspan Solar PV will be built in the Northern Cape, The construction of the plants will begin early in 2024 and are expected to be commissioned by the end of 2025.
“I am delighted that Grootspruit, and Graspan have been successful in BW5, as ENGIE is committed to the long-term objectives of South Africa, as outlined in the National Development Plan. We already operate over 1 GW of energy in the country through our assets. We are dedicated to supporting the Government’s and industry’s ambitions to transition to a lower carbon economy,” said Mohamed Hoosen, ENGIE South Africa CEO and Managing Director, Renewables for Asia, Middle East & Africa.
“As Pele Green Energy, we are pleased about this milestone we’ve reached in this partnership with ENGIE. It is yet another significant step towards a positive contribution to the national agenda, as well as a long-term energy solution for South Africa,” said Gqi Raoleka, Pele Green Energy’s Managing Director.
Through these two solar plants, ENGIE will generate up to 150 MW of clean, affordable and reliable electricity over 20 years. Together, the plants are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in South Africa by 100 000 tons of CO2 per year and will contribute to meeting the electricity needs of approximately 80 000 South African households.
At present, ENGIE owns, operates and maintains two Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Plants, namely Xina Solar One (100 MW) in Pofadder and Kathu Solar Park (100 MW) in Kathu. In addition ENGIE also owns and operates an onshore wind farm West Coast 1 (94 MW), two solar photovoltaic plants Aurora and Vredendal (21 MW) and two thermal peaking power plants (670 MW Avon and 335 MW Dedisa). The company is also in the process of finalizing the acquisition of BTE Renewables and is working towards reaching financial close on the OYA Hybrid project.
