New rule for green projects will protect grid access
New renewable energy projects that will be built close to existing electricity grid infrastructure will need a letter from Eskom approving the project location.
That is according to an amendment to the requirements for environmental authorisation gazetted on Monday by the department of environmental affairs. It requires that a proponent requests and obtains a consent letter from Eskom confirming that the proposed layout of the facility will not unnecessarily obstruct access to the main electricity transmission or distribution substation.
“The amendment is necessary to ensure that the full potential of the investment into electricity infrastructure can be realised,” the department said.
The requirement will apply only to new projects and not to any applications for environmental authorisation submitted before the publication of the amendment.
The department told Business Day the amendment is required to ensure that both main transmission and distribution electrical sub-stations “are not obstructed by the encroachment of developments which limits the ability to serve several clients from the same substation”.
It specifies that developers must submit the letter as part their application for environmental authorisation for a proposed project if it is located in a radius of 2km of a main electricity transmission substation or within 1km of a main electricity distribution substation.
If Eskom does not reply to a request for a letter of consent within 45 days, and if the applicant can prove it has followed up the matter with Eskom, the department will assume Eskom has no objection to the location.
A lack of available grid access is one of the main barriers to the rollout of new renewable energy projects in SA.
Eskom’s latest generation connection capacity assessment shows there is no grid capacity available in any of the three Cape provinces. These areas remain in high demand due to their abundant energy resources for renewable generation. About 20,000MW of capacity is available in the rest of the country.
Eskom says in the assessment that unlocking capacity in the Cape provinces will require a significant amount of transmission network investment, which often takes several years to develop and construct.
“The required transmission corridor strengthening to unlock grid capacity and alleviate these constraints will only be commissioned from 2027 onwards,” Eskom states in the document.
Eskom has conducted curtailment studies to provide generation developers with an alternative if they still want to connect in these constrained areas, but that would involve the mandatory reduction of output from a renewable plant.
The framework must still receive approval from the regulator. “Generation developers are, therefore, strongly encouraged to consider developing their projects in those areas with remaining capacity,” Eskom says in the assessment.