Eskom signs lease agreements with four IPPs
Eskom on Friday announced that it had signed lease agreements with four independent power producers that will occupy land at two Mpumalanga power stations, reports EWN.
The successful bidders are HDF Energy South Africa, Red Rocket, The Sola Group and SA Mainstream Renewable Power Developments.
The signed lease agreements with the independent power producers will run for a 25 to 30-year period.
Once operational, the projects will contribute around 2 000 megawatts to the national electricity grid.
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said the first round of this project will be established at the Majuba and Tutuka power stations and would be connected to the grid within two to three years.
‘Furthermore, because Eskom is not the buyer of the electricity, there is no requirement for a Treasury guarantee to underpin these investments. Therefore, these agreements do not present any risk to the taxpayer, they don’t present any burden to the taxpayer and it does not occupy any space on the national balance sheet.’
Eskom said it has made more than 6 000 hectares of its land available for the construction of renewable energy projects.
De Rutyer said although the project is expected to take place within two to three years from financial closure, this timeframe also depended on environmental and other regulatory processes being approved.
Eskom said the energy companies were to conduct feasibility studies to determine which forms of renewable energy technologies they will be implementing at each site.
Options are between wind or solar energy, coupled with battery storage, but the exact generation capacity will only be known once these studies have been completed.
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