Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has announced that Bid Window Seven (BW7), the public procurement round for renewable energy, will be delayed until December, after his department decided to change the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which he claims will be delivered by November.

BW7 was initially expected to be released in September but was delayed by the late delivery of the Generation Connection Capacity Assessment (GCCA) by Eskom. The assessment failed to include the results of curtailment studies, which account for the impact on grid connection capacity in certain areas.

Curtailment measures (i.e., loadshedding, cutting illegal connections) could potentially double grid connection capacity in areas like the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, and Hydra Central (Karoo) supply areas.

The lack of a clear curtailment plan affected wind projects' progress during BW6.

The timing of the delay may also have something to do with a tender issued by the Development Bank of Southern Africa to review the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

The 3 GW gas-to-power procurement program is receiving priority attention within the government and the National Energy Crisis Committee.

Previous electricity generation projects have come under threat from environmental litigation by German-funded NGO Earthlife Africa, who have in the past successfully opposed projects that collectively would have generated over 11GW of electricity, over 50% of the country’s current supply.

Whether the aforementioned gas-based procurement initiatives will be successful remains to be seen.

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