The request for proposals for the procurement of 513 MW of battery energy storage capacity will be released before the end of February, the National Energy Crisis Committee’s (NECOM’s) Rudi Dicks confirmed on Friday.

All the necessary approvals had been secured from the National Treasury for the Independent Power Producer (IPP) Office to proceed with the tender, he reported.

Speaking during a weekly update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan, Dicks also reported that consultations were under way on the final design of Bid Window 7 (BW7) of the renewables procurement programme.

He indicated that up to 5 000 MW of wind and solar photovoltaic capacity could be procured under the next round and confirmed that the current discussions were aimed at finding a way to ensure the round was not as badly affected by Eskom’s grid constraints as was the case during BW6.

During that bid window, less than 1 000 MW of the 4 200 MW allocated was able to advance to preferred-bidder status, owing to grid constraints in the Cape provinces.

In addition, none of the 23 wind projects that participated in the bid window were selected to proceed, after grid capacity deemed to be available at the launch of BW6 was subsequently absorbed by private projects being advanced based on bilateral contracts.

Dicks reported that Eskom was, in parallel, consulting on grid queuing rules so as to ensure an “orderly development of connection quotations” by ensuring that projects in the reservation queue were governed by the principle of first-ready, first serve.

Eskom has given a deadline of March 9 for written submissions on the proposed amendments to the current rules.

“There are of course several options to be able to ensure that we design BW7 to address the constraints that emerged during BW6.

“The IPP Office, Eskom and ourselves at NECOM are engaging on how best to do this, so we are able to maximise procurement and not sit with a situation where you only have a limited number of bidders,” he reported, indicating that work was also under way to assess whether any grid capacity could be released in the coastal provinces.

Separately, the process for licensing the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), which was being separated from Eskom, was also under way, with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa having published NTCSA’s application for a national transmission and trading licence for public comment.

Dicks said the licensing, together with the recently announced R254-billion debt-relief package for Eskom, would position NTCSA to begin making the investments required to expand and strengthen the grid.

He indicated that 2 890 km of new high-voltage lines, together with 60 transformers, would need to be built by 2027 at an estimated cost of R72-billion.

As part of the Eskom debt-relief conditions, the National Treasury was insisting that a mechanism be created for private sector participation in the building and operation of new grid infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Dicks also reported that Eskom would soon sign up 400 MW under its Standard Offer Programme and its Emergency Generator Programme and that it had also been given the approvals required to secure any surplus capacity available from the existing renewables fleet procured by the IPP Office.

It is estimated that about 64 MW is immediately available from projects procured during the first four bid windows of the renewables programme.