Eskom, the public utility company of South Africa, has inaugurated a 20MW/100MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) aimed at mitigating the challenging situation facing the country’s grid.
South Africa needs to prioritise grid-located battery storage if it is to overcome the ongoing ‘load-shedding’ power outage crisis plaguing the country.
It is “unacceptable” for a rural electricity supplier to use solar to prevent load-shedding, but batteries or other grid-independent electricity sources could be used, Eskom said.
A solar-plus-storage project is being planned for the legislative capital of South Africa, as the city looks to move “away from Eskom reliance and towards a load-shedding-free Cape Town”, its Mayor said.
The downstream arm of vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals and other industry sources have responded to yesterday’s article about flow battery technology’s suitability for a tender in South Africa.
The 513MW battery storage tender in South Africa has challenging domestic content and location requirements while flow battery projects will not meet the RTE requirement, consultants told Energy-Storage.news.
The Department of Mineral Resource and Energy (DMRE) of South Africa has issued its request for proposals (RFP) for six battery storage projects totaling 513MW/2,052MWh, with a July deadline.
South Africa could play a big role in the global battery value chain with the potential for 10-15GWh of domestic demand for battery energy storage by 2030, according to a report from the World Bank.
