The government of South Africa has signed commercial close agreements for two large-scale BESS projects totalling 720MWh, allowing project backers Scatec and a consortium of CIP and EDF to proceed with construction.
The country’s electricity minister Dr David Kgosientsho Ramokgopa signed the agreements this week for the Mogobe and Oasis Mookodi battery energy storage system (BESS) projects. Contractors can now be appointed, with construction expected to start next month and completion 24 months after that, a minister said.
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They are two of five BESS projects totalling 513MW/2,052MWh of energy storage that won contracts in the government’s Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (BESIPPPP).
The 103MW/412MWh Mogobe project belongs to Norway-based engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and independent power producer (IPP) Scatec, while a consortium of investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and utility/IPP EDF is developing the 77MW/308MWh Oasis Mookodi project. CIP’s involvement is via local IPP Mulilo in which it holds a majority stake.
Mookodi is one of three that CIP and EDF won contracts for, while the fifth is being developed by IPP Globeleq via special purpose vehicle (SPV) AGV Projects.
All five BESS projects will be built a substations belong to transmission system operator (TSO) Eskom and will provide capacity, energy and ancillary services, primarily Instantaneous Reserves, Regulating Reserves, Ten Reserves and Supplemental Reserves under 15-year contracts.
The minister added that two other winning projects will reach commercial close next month – presumably CIP/EDF’s – while the fifth is aiming for early 2025.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is doing the procurements and has recently launched larger second and third rounds of BESIPPPP for projects at other substations. The tender’s conditions provoked some debate between Energy-Storage.news contacts about which battery technologies could qualify (Premium access).
Eskom and the South Africa government are driving the deployment of large-scale BESS in South Africa to help it mitigate against frequent and widespread load shedding and power outages, as well as to help accommodate growing renewable generation.
Large-scale BESS are also being procured through solar and storage programmes like the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP). Scatec has also won projects in that, and started commercial operations on a project with 1,140MWh of BESS capacity in December 2023. The same month saw Saudi Arabia-based IPP ACWA Power sign a PPA with the South Africa government for a 442MW PV, 1,200MWh BESS project.
Minister Ramokgopa called South Africa a ‘trailblazer’ when it came to solar and storage, when visiting Scatec’s RMIPPP project in April 2024.
See all our news coverage of the country’s energy storage market here.
