South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said this week that it has postponed commercial close timelines for large-scale renewable energy projects selected in the fifth round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP).

The project agreements should now be signed by the end of September.

“The department has engaged Eskom extensively on these matters and Eskom has committed to a timetable that will enable the first batch of 14 projects to sign their projects agreements at end of July 2022, accommodating those preferred bidders that will receive their budget quotes by the end of June 2022,” the DMRE said. “The

remaining 11 projects are expected to receive their Budget Quotes by August 2022, which will enable the signing of the balance of project agreements by the end of September 2022.”

The fifth round of the REIPPPP scheme was launched in March 2021. Overall, the South African authorities have allocated 2.6 GW of renewable energy capacity across 25 projects ranging in size from 75 MW to 140 MW.

The procurement exercise's lowest bid of ZAR 0.34425 ($0.02338) was submitted for a 124 MW wind facility to be built in Hantam, in the Northern Cape region. For solar, the lowest price was ZAR 0.37479, which was offered for six 75 MW solar parks set for construction in Tokologo, an administrative area in the Lejweleputswa District of the Free State region.