Africa-Press – South-Africa. Eskom has launched the second phase of its land-lease programme that aims to secure as much as 500MW for the grid from independent renewable energy projects.
The programme involves Eskom leasing portions of its available land in Mpumalanga to renewable energy projects. This is part of efforts to improve the availability of generation capacity as the country battles an ongoing power crisis.
The land is strategically located near energy infrastructure, so that projects can easily connect and feed power to the grid. It also eliminates the need to build new grid connections.
The first phase of the programme was launched in April last year when Eskom issued a tender for the lease of 17 land parcels around the Majuba and Tutuka power stations. By October, Eskom had entered into lease agreements with five IPPs for the development of roughly 1 800MW of new generation capacity.
Eskom, in December 2022, issued a request for proposal as part of the second phase of the programme. Four parcels of land in Mpumalanga will be leased.
“We estimate that the land put to tender can yield up to 500MW of new generation capacity from independent power producers,” the power utility said in a statement.
The deadline for submissions is 27 February 2023.
Eskom does not buy power from the independent power producers (IPPs). Rather, the IPPs use the grid infrastructure to wheel power for their own consumption or to sell to other consumers.
Eskom has plans to extend the project to other areas and provinces with unused land.
It said it is also working with IPPs and government to expedite processes like environmental approvals, land rezoning and grid connection applications so that power can be added to the grid as soon as possible.
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