Ongoing projects in Africa

South Africa’s renewables strategy
In 2011, Pretoria introduced the Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement (REIPPP), which aims to increase national renewable energy generating capacity from virtually nothing to 8,000 MW by 2020.

A series of project tenders are being held, with the selected bidders given long term power purchase agreements with Eskom. Funding is being shared by developers, multilateral and bilateral lenders and the South African government.

An energy and environmental research analyst for consultants Frost & Sullivan, Joanita Roos, said: “In the light of electricity and water scarcity, as well as rising coal prices, RE [renewable energy] is becoming a preferred choice of energy generation technology in South Africa. Additionally, South Africa is the twelfth-highest carbon emitting nation, and the need to diversify industries and incorporate lower carbon emitting technologies will spur RE development.”

In 2011, Agence Française de Développement (AfD) agreed to lend €100m to Eskom for the development of the 100 MW Sere wind farm. Construction on the project, which is located near Vredendal in the Western Cape, is now under way and is due for completion by the end of this year. Other wind farms will be developed by both Eskom and private sector investors. Eskom has long had a particular interest in developing solar thermal power projects and hopes that it can create an export business by pioneering the development of the technology, in much the same way as Vestas became a wind power market leader by driving wind farm development in Denmark.

In October, the South African company signed an agreement with AfD regarding a €100m credit facility to help fund its planned 100 MW CSP plant near Upington, in the Northern Cape.

Eskom chief executive Brian Dames said: “Concentrated Solar Thermal Power is one of Eskom’s first utility scale projects outside the existing hydro portfolio and places the company on a path towards reducing its carbon footprint and investing in a sustainable energy future.”