4 companies shortlisted for biomass project

MBABANE – As the country continues to pursuit its objective of generating renewable energy locally, four companies are on the race to attain a biomass license.

The procurement process is midway through, as four bidders have been identified at the Request for Qualification stage to participate in the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage.

The Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA) was in the process of procuring 80MW, which comprises 40MW of solar and 40MW of biomass.

ESERA said the Second tranche procurement launched the (Request for Qualifications) RFQ tender for the procurement of biomass plants totaling to approximately 40MW in August 2020. The project aim was to utilise the available biomass feedstock in the country.

This was mentioned by ESERA in the SDG Investor Roadmap and

annual report.

ESERA said they had plans to sanction the addition of 80MW through renewable sources and also issue licenses for these projects.

Challenged

They said the procurement of solar was done to completion, but was subsequently the solar tranche was challenged and was currently pending in court.

“With regard to the biomass, the procurement process is halfway through as four bidders have been identified at the Request for Qualification

stage to participate in the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage,” they said.

When asked why more solar power was not being produced and supplied to the grid, it was explained that solar power by its nature intermittent, which means that it was irregular and unreliable due to variability as a result of weather conditions as well as night and day.

ESERA also mentioned that the country was currently generating 87MW from renewable technologies, which is made up of 60MW hydro-electric power and 27MW solar power.

The companies that would be participating in the RFP stage of the biomass include ABF Energy Limited, BNM Technology Group, Electricite de France and Eswatini Europe Energy Resource Consortium (EEERC).

ABF Energy Limited is a private limited company (Ltd.) company based in Weston Centre 10 Grosvenor Street, United Kingdom.

Owned

Électricité de France SA, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French State.

Eswatini Europe Energy Resource Consortium (EEERC) a consultancy company with lead major projects in Northern Europe as well as Sub Saharan Africa.

“The sugar and textile industry is one of the key players in the economy of Eswatini and in our quest to generate energy locally.”

This was mentioned by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo, last week when he was formerly introduced to the new Ubombo Country Managing Director (MD) Muzi Siyaya at Hilton Inn.

Khumalo informed the MD that there was a possibility that Eswatini would not be receiving electricity from South Africa, beyond 2025.

Opportunity

He said this was a challenge and an opportunity for locals to generate more power. The minister said the sugar industry was a major player in their quest to increase the local generation of electricity.

Khumalo tasked Siyaya and Ubombo Sugar to work on increasing the biomass production in order to contribute to the grid.

“One of the challenges that we have is energy, biomass would be a very significant contribution to the country after 2025, hence we are looking at renewable forms of energy,” he said.

Khumalo added that acceleration of the sugar strategy by Ubombo Sugar is imperative to expand the sugar market.