SA greenlights first 2 private generation projects
JOHANNESBURG – 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 per cent black-owned and have a collective investment value of R3.2 billion.
Market
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.