Constrained power grid curbs green-projects

South Africa awarded 1,760 megawatts of green-power projects to companies as part of a multi-year programme to cut its reliance on coal for electricity, with limited access to the country's constrained transmission grid curbing its plans.

The government received 40 bids for 1,800 megawatts it had sought, but only eight bidders were successful, mainly because of a lack of grid capacity in the regions where the projects would be, said Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa this week.

“While there is appetite, the limiting factor is grid capacity,” he said.

“The grid is becoming a binding constraint — it's going to undermine the ability of the country to benefit from these renewable-energy resources,” added Ramokgopa.

The projects are in the Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Free State and North West and exclude the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape because grid capacity in those regions is “exhausted”, he said.