S.Africa picks preferred bidders for emergency power tender, minister says (updated)

Alma Metals

18/03/2021 15:33

(Adds details, quotes)
    CAPE TOWN, March 18 (Reuters) - South Africa's government
has selected eight preferred bidders, including Turkey's
Karpowership, to provide emergency electricity and help prop up
the country's ailing power supply, Energy Minister Gwede
Mantashe said on Thursday.
    The tender for 2,000 megawatts (MW), launched two years ago
when South Africa suffered some of the worst power cuts in a
decade, aimed to find the cheapest and quickest options to ease
a shortage that has cost the continent's most industrialised
economy billions of dollars.
    "The evaluation process has resulted in the selection of
eight preferred bids totalling 1,845 MW and a further three
eligible bids totalling 150 MW," Mantashe told a media briefing.
    Besides Karpowership, which operates a fleet of powerships
and will provide ship-to-shore electricity when eventually
anchored at three coastal sites, Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power and
other firms Oya Energy and Umoyilanga Energy were also
shortlisted.
    In February last year, Karpowership told Reuters that each
of its ships, which anchor off-shore and connect to the
electricity grid, is capable of providing a range of power
options from 30MW to around 600MW and contracted for different
lengths of time. Karpowership did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2A35IJ
    Mantashe said the projects were expected to inject around 45
billion rand ($3.05 billion) into South Africa's economy, with
the first power expected to be connected to the grid from August
next year.
    Mantashe said a request for proposals for the procurement of
2,600 MW under the latest bid round for private power producers
will go to the market at midnight on Thursday.
    "We intend to release four more requests for proposals
within the next 12 months," he said, adding that this will
include 3,000 MW from gas, 1,500 MW from coal and 513 MW from
battery storage.
    Drowning in a pile of debt, state-owned power utility Eskom
cannot meet demand and regularly cuts power to industries and
households, known locally as load-shedding, to help stave off a
complete power grid collapse. 
    Design flaws at underperforming new power stations and
unreliable coal-fired plants that provide more than 80% of the
country's electricity needs has hit power generation capacity.
    On Monday, senior Eskom executives said the utility faced
uncertainty on about 6,000 MW at any given time, out of a total
nominal capacity of over 44,000 MW, and that electricity
supplies would remain erratic until a maintenance plan was
completed by September.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2LD38R 


($1 = 14.7567 rand)

 (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Edmund Blair and Susan
Fenton)
 ((wendell.roelf@thomsonreuters.com; +27 21 461 3523;))