Rich nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have announced $8.5 billion (R131 billion) in funding over the next three to five years to speed up South Africa’s move from coal to clean energy.

South Africa, the world’s 12th-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, depends on coal to generate most of its electricity.

It will receive a range of funding, including grants and concessional finance, to accelerate investment in renewable energy and the development of green hydrogen.

The plan will involve closing South African coal stations ahead of schedule, Joe Biden told reporters at the Conference of the Parties (COP).

The partnership also includes France, Germany and the European Union.

US President Joe Biden said he’s offering an alternative to China’s plan to build infrastructure in countries that are among the most vulnerable to climate change. At the same time, his special envoy, John Kerry, sees finance pledges approaching the $100 billion annual target.

Much of the focus of Day Two at COP26 in Glasgow is on aid to developing nations, with a separate push for more private sector money for the energy transition.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa said the partnership would support a just transition to a low carbon economy and a climate-resilient society in South Africa.

South Africa submitted a revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to reduce domestic carbon emissions to within a target range for emissions of between 420 CO2-eq and 350 CO2-eq by 2030.

“This revised target is compatible with the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement and represents our country’s best effort to confront climate change,” Ramaphosa said. “The initial R131 billion will support the implementation of our revised NDC.”

One of the resolutions of the “Political Declaration on the just energy transition in South Africa” is to establish an inclusive task force comprised of South African and international partners.

This task force has set deadlines to meet over the next 12 months, with its first set of commitments deliverable within six months.

Within a calendar year, the task force must:

Develop a complete programme of work for this partnership based on an investment plan for the just energy transition of the South African government, including support to address the social and economic impacts.
Provide a leaders’ level update to review progress.
Identify potential financing instruments and policies that will act to improve Eskom’s long term financial sustainability.
Work to address South Africa’s longer-term funding needs to lower emissions across all sectors of the economy.
 Identify how to leverage further financial resources, including domestic resources, to that effect.

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​The 25 projects are expected to inject a total private sector investment amount of about R50 billion to the South African economy and also create 13,900 job opportunities.

Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has announced the preferred bidders appointed under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) bid window 5 meant to supplement the power generation supply from Eskom as the country continues to experience load shedding.

The request for proposals was sent out in April this year, with the government committing to announce preferred bidders before the end of October.

To date, the government has procured and signed agreements with 93 Independent Power Producer projects (IPPs), said Mantashe during a media briefing on Thursday.

“89 of these projects including Bid-Window 4 projects signed in 2018 are already connected to the grid and supplying 6,855 MW which is equivalent to two of Eskom’s six-pack coal-fired power stations. These include 86 renewable energy projects, two diesel-fired peaking plants, and five small power plants in the form of hydropower, landfill gas and biomass.


“In addition to the projects mentioned, we have selected 11 Preferred Bidder projects totalling 1,995 MW under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme. Power from these preferred bidder projects is expected to be connected to the grid within 18 months after the signing of commercial agreements currently set for the end of January 2022.”​

The department is also in the process of procuring 160MW from existing renewable energy IPPs.

Bid window 5 aims to procure 2,600 MW, which includes 1,600 MW from onshore wind and 1,000 MW from Solar PV plants.

Out of the 102 bids received, the government selected 25 projects which will procure 2,583 MW.

“A noticeable development is that we have Preferred Bidder projects in provinces not in previous renewable energy bid windows. Seven of the selected Preferred Bidders are located in the Free State Province, and one in KwaZulu-Natal,” said Gwede.


The 25 projects are expected to inject a total private sector investment amount of about R50 billion to the South African economy and also create 13,900 job opportunities.

“These projects will continue to make a difference in the lives of not only those communities in the vicinity of the proposed power plants who will own 2.5 percent of the Preferred Bidder Projects. The Preferred Bidders have also committed a total of R 2.7 billion towards Socio-Economic Development and Enterprise and skills development initiatives over the 20-year lifetime of the projects,” said Gwede.

These are the preferred bidders for the project:

• Coleskop Wind Energy Facility
• San Kraal Wind Energy Facility
• Phezukomoya Wind Energy Facility
• Brandvalley Wind Farm
• Rietkloof Wind Farm
• Wolf Wind Farm
• Beaufort West Wind Facility
• Trakas Wind Facility
• Sutherland Wind Facility
• Rietrug Wind Facility
• Waaihoek Wind Facility
• Dwarsrug Wind Facility
• Grootfontein PV 1
• Grootfontein PV 2
• Grootfontein PV 3
• Grootspruit Solar PV Project
• Graspan Solar PV Project
• Sannaspos Solar PV Project
• Du Plessis Dam Solar PV 1
• Kentani Solar Facility
• Klipfontein Solar Facility
• Klipfontein 2 Solar Facility
• Leliehoek Solar Facility
• Braklaagte Solar Facility
• Sonoblomo Solar Facility

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In light of the recent spell of load-shedding, South African Breweries (SAB) has announced its plans to brew from entirely renewable resources by 2025.
The company also plans to brew Castle Light — almost half of which is already produced from renewable resources — using only renewable electricity.

To reach its goals of 100% renewable energy by 2025, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev, SAB’s holding company) will need solar power generation facilities able to produce 191MW.

SAB said that all of its breweries in South Africa use some form of solar power generation, while the Alrode brewery in Johannesburg also uses biogas to produce electricity.

Since the start of 2021, the AB InBev-owned company has generated 9.7GWh of renewable electricity, saying that it would use all options available to further reduce its load on the national power grid.

SAB has managed to reduce its CO2 emissions by 9,443 tons since the start of the year.

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Colleen Duvenage, Brand Director for Castle Lite, spoke about the transition last week.

“We know how important sustainability and our environmental future is for South Africa, but sometimes, it feels like such a big task that we can’t do anything to make a difference,” she said.

“Our consumers can do their bit by choosing a beer that is not only hugely enjoyable and super refreshing, but is also reducing its load on the national power supply with its production, ensuring there is more to go around.”

SAB first announced its intentions to go off-grid in January 2020, saying it intended to buy 100% of required energy-generation equipment from South African manufacturers

Eskom announced Stage 4 load-shedding on Wednesday, which it said will revert to Stage 2 at 05:00 on Friday.

It said that Stage 2 load-shedding would then continue until 05:00 on Saturday.

During its State of the System update earlier this week, Eskom presented a forecast that showed South Africa could suffer more than 94 days of load-shedding in the coming months.

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Should State power utility Eskom show the way to a cleaner and greener energy future through its 15-year roadmap, group CEO Andre de Ruyter believes it will demonstrate Africa’s ability to leapfrog older technologies and “move straight to the latest technologies”.

Eskom, he notes, is responsible for about 25% of Africa’s carbon emissions, making it the largest electricity generator on the continent.

Additionally, considering that electricity is, in this modern day and age, “essential for human dignity”, De Ruyter refers to one of Eskom’s latest technological developments – the modular microgrid.

This, he explains, can be deployed “in a matter of days” to remote and outlying areas that may be too difficult or too costly to connect to conventional grids.

The modular microgrid enables the utility to bring 24/7 electricity to these communities at a “significantly low cost”.

International development agencies have expressed an interest in its roll-out, though De Ruyter notes that a leadership role is still required.

He explains that Eskom will not be a manufacturer of these grids, but would prefer to enable a number of private sector manufacturers to build these, leaving Eskom to “act as a customer” and enable support.
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“We want to buy them and then use them to continue on our electrification mission.”
As Eskom cannot be responsible for the entire value chain, owing to its own current commitments, De Ruyter says the utility will likely act as a catalyst that enables development of such microgrids.
“We think there's a very capable and competent private sector that should assume appropriate risk.”
De Ruyter spoke during a keynote address at a COP26-focused discussion hosted by Enlit-Africa

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Eskom announced on Tuesday that it had shared its Transmission Development Plan (TDP) for the period 2022 to 2031 with stakeholders during a virtual public forum.

This forms part of the power utility’s transmission licence requirements issued by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

It calls on Eskom to publish a TDP annually.

Eskom said that 30GW of new generation capacity is expected to come online during this planning period — mainly from renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaics and wind.

This represents more than two-thirds of Eskom’s coal-based generating capacity of 44,055 megawatts (44.1GW). Eskom’s total installed capacity is 51,920.2MW.

The power utility noted that this 30GW of new solar and wind generation capacity would be built in areas with limited electric network infrastructure.

Former South Africa Wind Energy Association CEO Ntombifuthi Ntuli previously told MyBroadband that wind power would make up a total of 14.4GW of power supply by 2030.

“Wind energy will play a significant role in the energy transition as it will contribute 18% to the total power system by 2030,” she stated.

Eskom said that it would need to build an additional 8,300km of extra-high-voltage lines and 119 transformers to bring on board 58,970 MVA of transformer capacity over the next ten years.

“The total Eskom Transmission capital plan amounts to R178 billion over the next ten years,” said Eskom group executive for transmission, Segomoco Scheppers.

“Of this amount, R144 billion is required for new capacity expansion projects to meet the reliability requirements, connection of new generation capacity and loads, as well acquire servitudes.”

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​Scheppers said a further R34 billion is required for refurbishments to the existing asset base and procurement of production equipment, as well as strategic spares.

“As a state-owned entity, Eskom understands the critical role it plays in enabling South Africa’s economic recovery efforts,” stated Scheppers.

“Without reliable electricity, there can be no sustainable economic recovery or growth.”


Segomoco Scheppers, Eskom group executive for transmission
Scheppers also said that work is underway to connect utility-scale renewable generation projects for Bid Window 5 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

These projects are expected to be connected to the national electricity grid by 2024/25.

“We are also making our systems ready to connect the additional 2,000 MW capacity procured through the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP),” said Scheppers.

This capacity is meant to relieve pressure on Eskom’s grid and reduce the need for load-shedding.

However, the RMIPPP involves controversial Turkish powership supplier Karpowership.

If only South Africa would look to its available resources of sun and wind it may well be able to address its employment and energy problems.

This is according to several panellists who took part in a webinar, “Climate choice or climate challenge?”, hosted by Sanlam Investments.

Professor Guy Midgley, a climate scientist at Stellenbosch University, argued that a possible solution to the 44% unemployment rate in South Africa, the country’s failing energy system and the climate crisis is to transform South Africa’s energy systems.

Midgley said if thousands of South Africans were employed to build a new energy system this would sort out the country’s energy problems and contribute to the mitigation of the climate crisis.

“We seem to be ignoring all this as an opportunity; we have plenty of renewable energy in this country which we can convert to usable energy,” he said.

Midgley said the migration of people into cities is a tremendous opportunity to clean up the system and make it more efficient.

“Population is not the problem; the problem is overconsumption based on a very dirty energy system. The World Economic Forum has highlighted a study done by Harvard University where they showed that it is possible to shift the entire world’s system to renewable energy by 2050. One of those papers looks at sub-Saharan Africa and it said it is possible just beyond 2030 to shift the entire sub-Saharan Africa to renewable energy. 

“This is an opportunity – we know how to do it, we are just not taking it,” Midgley said.

Another panellist, Ramez Naam, the co-chair for energy and environment at Singularity University, said one of the challenges that Eskom faces is that there is no growth in sales of its product.

“Embracing electric vehicles will give them a new source of demand for electricity and that increases electricity sales. It is what will allow them to buy down their debt and become a more sustainable company,” he said.

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The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, says his department is planning to announce the preferred bidder for the procurement of 2 600 megawatts of renewable energy under Bid Window 5 by the end of next month. 

The Minister said this when Ministers in the Economics Cluster responded to oral questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday. 

“The department is in the process of procuring a further 6 800 megawatts of renewable energy. From this proposal, 2 600 megawatts will be under Bid Window 5, which is being evaluated, with the preferred bidder announcement planned for the month of October 2021. 

“The remainder of the 6 800 megawatts capacity is planned for procurement before the end of March 2022,” the Minister said. 

To date, the department has completed the procurement of 6 422 MW of renewable energy.  

Through four bidding rounds, as at the end of June this year, 5 422 megawatts is already connected to the grid and is part of the energy supply. 

Mantashe said renewable energy now accounts for just under 10% of electricity supply, with the country still heavily reliant on Eskom.

“In line with the Integrated Resource Plan 2019, additional renewable energy capacity will be released to Eskom and municipalities as and when requested, when requests for Section 24 determination are received. 

“The biggest allocation for new generation capacity to be developed between now and the year 2030 is renewable energy. 

“The Integrated Resource Plan 2019 provides for 14 400 megawatts of additional wind power, 6 000 megawatts of additional solar power and 2 088 megawatts of battery storage. 

Renewable energy a necessity to the economy 

Mantashe said, meanwhile, that one of the issues that need to be considered about renewable energy is that while it is expensive technology to be introduced, it is necessary to do so, as it contributes to economic growth. 

“What we should always take into account is that renewable energy is relatively new technology in South Africa and if you look at Bid Window 1, 2, 3, and a little bit of Bid Window 4, one of the issues was that it was expensive to build renewable energy. 

“But I always argue that that was a subsidy for introducing technology that was necessary in the economy. 

“Therefore, it was not a cost, rather that it was a premium paid for introducing technology to the economy.” 

Mantashe said the second inhibiting factor is the fact that the components of building renewable energy are manufactured outside of South Africa. 

“That’s inhibiting, as it does not give South Africans optimal benefits of the technology and lastly, it is the fact that it is still dominated by foreign companies. We have a responsibility of ensuring that there is an increased participation of South Africans in the technology.” 

To combat high costs, Mantashe said his department is working towards localising the manufacturing of renewable energy components in the country, which is expected to lead to job creation.

“The department is working with business, labour and community representatives to develop localisation and industrial plans that will make it possible for us to attract investment and develop local manufacturing capacity. 

“Analysis of the potential jobs in renewable energy shows that large numbers of jobs will be created during the manufacturing and construction phase. It is crucial for us as a country to maximise economic opportunities that come with the planned power generation capacity,” Mantashe said.  – SAnews.gov.za  

Sales to Eskom or a municipal distributor would also have to follow a procurement process within Eskom or the municipality.

Previously the IPP Office of the DMRE has been used to procure long term PPAs for Eskom through IPP bid processes and indications are that this will continue to be used. A fifth round of the Renewable Energy IPP process is presently underway by the IPP Office. The IPP Office REIPP page can be accessed here.

In future electricity sales to ‘Eskom’ will made directly to the National Transmission Company which it has been announced will be unbundled from Eskom by the end of the year.

Various municipalities have recently announced an intention to procure new generation capacity from IPPs. The Western Cape government has recently released a Request for Information regarding supply of renewable energy to municipalities in the province. The Western Cape RFI can be accessed here.

What is the timing on implementing this?

The exemption has been gazetted and is effective immediately. However, two things appear to be outstanding:

NERSA still needs to release an updated registration procedure as the current procedure is specifically directed at ‘small-scale’ embedded generators up to 1MW. These are likely to be similar for 100MW facilities. The existing rules can be accessed here.
The wheeling framework and charges that Eskom will apply need to be clearly accessible and should be capable to implementation without lengthy one-on-one negotiations with Eskom. The Eskom webpage regarding wheeling of energy (eskom.co.za) indicates that bilateral engagements are presently required for wheeling and also that NERSA is still developing a national framework for use of system charges.

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IT has been a difficult few years for South African fuel retailers. The market has been shrinking since 2016, and COVID-19 has accelerated this trend. Alongside a slowdown in economic activity as a result of national lockdowns, lifestyles have changed. More people working from home and increased computing and network penetration mean less traveling. This suggests that even as economies begin to recover, demand for fuel is likely to lag.

Since the price of fuel is regulated, and retailers are given a fixed cents-per-litre margin, it’s a volume-driven business, and reduced demand is making it tough for fuel retailers. So, what can they do to cut costs and become more self-sufficient?

One option is to embrace advances in energy technology. The rise of fuel retail has come with increasing demands on energy supplies. Refrigeration, in particular, is an energy-hungry process. But fuel retailers and forecourt operators in South Africa face two acute challenges in this regard: high energy costs, and low energy certainty.

Electricity is expensive, and its supply uncertain. In addition to load shedding, many areas are structurally power constrained, and an aging infrastructure continues to add pressure to the grid. South Africans have lived with this reality for many years, and retailers of all types have invested in diesel generators. But they are costly, noisy and inefficient.

Grid-tied solar systems are simple, comprising nothing more than solar panels and an inverter linked to the municipal electrical grid. The panels convert sunlight into useable alternating current when it’s available. They aren’t connected to batteries, and so switch back to the municipal grid at night or when the sun is obscured. During the day they can easily produce enough energy to power fuel pumps, a retail store and an administrative backend.

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Capital investment of R500 000 to R1 million in these types of systems will typically allow an owner to save 30-50% of their energy costs. This coupled with incentives such as the Section 12B tax benefit, which allows for the tax deductibility of certain assets used in the production of renewable energy, means that payback periods are shorter than ever before. Regulations have also relaxed, and suppliers of these systems will be able to guide purchasers through the process of registering with municipal grids, and with health and safety requirements.

The worldwide shift towards electric vehicles (EVs) and other alternative fuel technologies is slow but accelerating rapidly.

More alternative-fuel vehicles on the roads will place demands on fuel retailers; some obvious and some less so. Batteries will be required to address spikes in demand, especially in the first phases of electrical vehicle adoption, and provision made for LNG or hydrogen fuelling capacity where warranted. But charging an electric vehicle is not like pouring petrol into a tank. It takes time: Tesla’s most powerful chargers, the 150 kW Supercharging stations, take 30-40 minutes to charge today’s Tesla Model S to 80% capacity.

Forecourts will increasingly be built to accommodate longer visits, becoming convenience hubs where refuelling is offered as one service amongst many. Shopping, entertainment, and pick-up services (such as online retailer lock boxes) will proliferate. Your children will play while you work and your EV charges. Partnerships with retailers, restaurants, and quick-service food chains will be key to developing convenience ecosystems, and they’ll all be tied together through digital networks and associated payment and reward schemes.

The forecourt of the future will probably look remarkably different. For owners and operators, preparing for this future begins with taking a clear-headed look at their current energy circumstances. An appraisal of energy cost and availability allows them to take control over these variables, giving them an advantage when planning for the continued sustainability and cost effectiveness of their businesses.

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Coal continues to dominate the South African power supply, contributing 81.8% to the total energy mix in first half of 2021, while contribution from renewable energy sources totalled almost 11% (solar PV, wind, hydro, concentrating solar power, others) and zero-carbon energy sources contributed 14.3% (renewables and nuclear).

This is according to research conducted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) published in its “Statistics of utility-scale power generation in South Africa 2021” report, focusing on the first half of 2021.

The report is based on data originally published by Eskom, which includes insights provided on technology-specific daily, weekly and monthly electricity production, as well as flexibility needs of the national power system.

The report notes SA has been gradually adding utility-scale wind, solar PV and CSP for years, increasing the installed capacity from 467MW in 2013 to 5 324MW by the end of June 2021. This includes 2 613 of wind, 2 211 of solar PV and 500MW of concentrating solar power added during the first half of the year alone.
According to the report, SA was plunged into 650 hours of load-shedding in 1H-2021 (15% of the time) wherein 963GWh of estimated energy was shed (mostly stage two load-shedding), as an additional coal unit at Kusile power station entered into commercial operation.

This is 76% of the total load-shedding experienced during 2020.

Last year, renewable energy contributed 10% to the total national energy over the 12-month period.

“By the first quarter of 2021, SA had 52.6GW of wholesale/public nominal capacity. The electricity mix is dominated by coal-fired power generation, which contributed 83.5% to system demand in the period,” says the report.

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“In 1H-2021, the variable renewable energy fleet of 5.3GW (wind, solar PV, CSP) reduced peak demand slightly, but more importantly, reduced high demand hours by 65%. Flexibility needs were not yet significantly increased with the existing variable renewable energy fleet in 1H-2021.”

For years, industry pundits have been touting renewable as the answer to SA’s ongoing energy crisis.

While SA has a heavy reliance on coal resources, governments across the globe have been introducing new frameworks to help combat climate change by enforcing the reduction of the amount of fossil fuels emitted by firms.

In an effort to resolve SA’s energy supply shortfall and reduce the risk of load-shedding, president Cyril Ramaphosa last month announced government will increase the National Energy Regulator of South Africa licensing threshold for embedded generation projects from 1MW to 100MW. This would allow companies to produce their own electricity without a licence.

The move was hailed by the renewable energy sector as it also opens up opportunities for intensive energy users like mines to generate their own electricity; the previous licensing requirements were limiting and cumbersome for end-users.

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