Question NW2266 to the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy
30 June 2023 - NW2266
Herron, Mr BN to ask the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy
(1) Considering that there is an urgent need to end loadshedding and noting that although during Bid Window 6 of the Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme, only 1000MW out of 4200MW was procured and the rest were rejected in the Eastern and Western Cape, due to insufficient gridspace (details furnished), the gridspace remains reserved since 2021 for Karpowership in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Richards Bay (details furnished), and given that Karpowership’s environmental authorisations remain refused and the current court cases on its generation licences could take many years to resolve, (a) what is the justification for the prioritisation of the Karpowership deal over adding new capacity through wind and solar energy and (b) by what date will the portion of the grid reserved for the Karpowership be released; (2) whether, given that Karpowership is holding up the gridspace and the urgency to end the loadshedding, there will be a limit to the extension that is being given to Karpowership to reach the commercial and financial deadline; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what is the (a) current and (b) final commercial and financial close deadline for Karpowership; (3) given the grid constraints, what laws, policy and/or factors inform his decision when (a) reserving the grid for independent power producers (IPPs) before commercial and financial close and (b) releasing the grid that is reserved for a particular IPP; (4) whether he will furnish Mr B N Herron with a list with the relevant details of IPPs that have not yet reached commercial and financial close, but have a portion of the grid reserved; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW2565E
Reply:
It is important to point out that the Department is obliged to conduct its procurement process in compliance with all legislative and regulatory prescripts of the laws of South Africa.
With regard to 1 (a)(b) The grid constraints that affected BW6 procurement were in specific areas and there is no linkage with Karpowerships.
With regard to 2 (a) Please see response 1 above(b),for all the remaining Preferred Bidders under the Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement bid window, the Department intends to conclude all procurement decisions before the end of this financial year.
With regard to 3 (a) and (b) The Department is not responsible for the allocation of grid, this is the mandate of Eskom as the custodian of the national grid.
With regard to 4, The lists of procured projects and the list of preferred bidders for each of the bid windows are available on the IPP Projects website at www.ipp-projects.co.za The Department can provide the list if so required.