With a total planned capacity of 605MW and committed investment of R7.8 billion, Nersa, an energy regulator said it registered 124 new private power projects in the final three months of 2023. An investment of R1.73 billion and 77MW of combined capacity was made in three-generation facilities that were registered for commercial use.
Nersa Reportedly Registered 124 New Private Power Projects
Among the facilities are solar photovoltaic (PV) and PV systems that are coupled with battery energy storage systems. The most popular technology was solar photovoltaics (PV), with 122 such facilities with a combined capacity of 604MW registered in the last quarter of 2017.
Yet, Nersa said that over the three months, just two generation facilities with a combined capacity of 1MW and an investment value of R4 million were registered, indicating that battery storage technology has not yet attained maturity in the South African energy supply market.
This could be because battery storage devices are relatively new on the market and come at a premium cost.
Top Three Provinces in Terms of Installed Capacity and Investment Value
According to Nersa, a significant portion of registered facilities lack storage, which is cause for concern. The need to combine battery storage with variable energy source generation facilities was emphasized by the regulator’s Nhlanhla Gumede.
The Western Cape, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces have the most newly registered generation facilities, with the Eastern Cape following closely behind. However, North West, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga are the top three provinces in terms of installed capacity and investment value.
With an installed capacity of 372MW, North West produced the largest investment value for the quarter at R3.5 billion, which was due to mining activity in the province.
86 Generation Facilities are Linked to the Eskom Network
86 generation facilities that are linked to the Eskom network and produce a total of 568MW of energy are exported through the national grid, with an investment cost of R7.2 billion.
With an investment cost of R500 million, a total of 38 generation facilities that produce 37MW are connected to the municipal distribution network. R12.82/kWh was the average investment cost for the last quarter of 2023.
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