- The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has registered two new 100 MW solar projects.
- The solar projects are located in the North West and will generate power for Tronox Mineral Sands.
- It took 73 days to register the projects.
The first two projects making use of licence exemptions for generation facilities of up to 100MW have successfully been registered with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).
Under new regulations - issued in August 2021 - energy generation facilities of up to 100MW do not require a licence. However, they need to be registered.
The two projects which have been approved are developed and operated by Sola Group - and will generate power for Tronox Mineral Sands' operations at five facilities. They will be located in the North West at the Ditsobotla Local Municipality.
Power will be wheeled - across Eskom's transmission grid - to Namakwa Sands Mine on the West Coast. It will also power Namakwa Sands Mineral Separation Plant and Namakwa Sands Smelter. The power will also be wheeled to the KwaZulu-Natal Sands Central Processing Complex and KwaZulu-Natal Sands Fairbreeze Mine.
The projects are more than 51% black-owned and have a collective investment value of R3.2 billion.
They will also have 28GWh of excess energy per year - which Sola is looking to market to other interested clients connected to Eskom's grid.
Sola Group noted that the regulatory changes are significant as the registration process is much faster and "less onerous" than applying for a generation licence. The registration of the projects took 73 days from submission.
"The significance of this first move is that it will pave the way for many more large-scale private projects to receive approvals to contribute to generation capacity to the grid," said Dom Wills, CEO of the Sola Group. "Further, this is a clear signal to the market that private power is achievable, and there are private funders that are excited to finance this market," Wills added.
The projects are expected to reach financial close in July, and then they will be constructed over 14 months. They will have an expected lifetime of 30 years, according to a statement from the Sola Group.
South Africa is currently battling load shedding as Eskom's generation capacity is constrained. The licence exemptions, however, are expected to unlock investment in the energy sector to help address the generation capacity gap of between 4 000MW to 6 000MW.
The Presidency is also working to accelerate the implementation of electricity generation projects.
"To fast-track these projects, we have established a joint task team between government and industry which meets weekly to remove many of the constraints. All of this is important to help alleviate the shortage in electricity supply," said Rudi Dicks, head of the project management office in the Presidency.