Eskom to open vast new tracts of land for renewables

Eskom will make 300 square kilometres of additional land available across various provinces, including the Northern Cape, to independent power producers (IPPs) in an effort to bring an end to load shedding.

Eskom recently granted access, subject to environmental approvals, to land it owns in Mpumalanga to 18 renewable energy companies. The land covers about 40km² out of 360km² made available and should provide 1.8GW of additional generation capacity once the projects come online in 12-18 months’ time.

During a media briefing on Monday morning, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter said the utility has identified a further 30 000ha (300km²) of land for private renewable energy projects that can be connected to the national grid.

The new land parcels will be made available in the Northern Cape, the Eastern Cape and the Free State, and will be released on a quarterly basis to allow IPPs to prepare their bids in an orderly fashion, De Ruyter said.

“This will rapidly accelerate the addition of more generation capacity to the grid,” he said. The new capacity should come online over the 18-24 months, which, coupled with government’s plans to license new capacity through so-called bid windows 5 and 6, will go a long way to ending load shedding, he said.

Eskom has also been “working hard” to “streamline grid access protocols” to make it easier for IPPs to connect. It has halved the time for Eskom to provide grid access from 210 days to 105 days, and is working to reduce this period further, De Ruyter said.

“We really are doing everything we can to resolve this electricity crisis as soon as possible,” he added. However, achieving this is also dependent on government and regulators. “We are seeing a renewed sense of urgency to remove the obstacles to resolving this crisis.”  — © 2022 NewsCentral Media