The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy is seeking bids for 513 megawatts of battery storage for South Africa’s power system. According to the department, a request for proposals has been issued, with potential bidders officially invited to participate in the procurement programme as of Tuesday.
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According to News24, this follows a ministerial determination for battery storage that was gazetted on September 25, 2020.
The department said in a statement that, in accordance with the determination, the Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme has been designed to facilitate the procurement of up to 513 megawatts and that bidders would also have to contribute to “socio-economic and environmentally sustainable growth”.
According to the department, the bids should ideally be for battery storage at several Northern Cape substations.
A single bid should be submitted for the single energy storage substation to which their project would connect. The department intends to select a single preferred bidder for each energy storage substation.
The submission deadline is 5 July at 5pm, and a fee of R25,000 per project is required to access the bid-related documents.
A bidder’s conference will be held ahead of the deadline for prospective bidders.
According to the department, the requirement for battery storage is part of the energy mix outlined in the 2019 Integrated Resources Plan.
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