The 153 MW/ 612 MWh Red Sands battery energy storage system (BESS) project in the Northern Cape has advanced to commercial close, following the signing of project agreements with the Department of Electricity and Energy and the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA).

The project is being developed by Globeleq in partnership with African Rainbow Energy, and was selected as a preferred bidder in 2024 under South Africa’s inaugural BESS bidding round for 513 MW/ 2 952 MWh across five substation sites selected in the same province by the NTCSA.

It is the last of the five projects selected during the bid window to achieve commercial close, with the other four under construction.

In a statement, Globeleq described Red Sands as the largest standalone BESS plant in Africa to have reached commercial close, with the project set to span about five hectares.

The other projects awarded during the round, which are being led by EDF and Scatec, are between 77 MW and 103 MW in size, and also have four hours of storage capacity.

While the investment value has not been confirmed, an evaluation price released when the project was identified as a preferred bidder was R16.9-billion.

Red Sands will be the second utility-scale BESS to be built by Globeleq, an African independent power producer owned by the UK government’s British International Investment.

CEO Jonathan Hoffman described the project’s commercial close as a landmark moment for Globeleq and for battery storage in Africa.

“Building on over a decade of renewable-energy leadership in South Africa and our Cuamba solar-plus-storage plant in Mozambique, we’re integrating battery storage across our portfolio to support resilient, low-carbon power systems across Africa,” Hoffman added.

African Rainbow Energy CEO Brian Dames said the investment supported its objective to utilise modern and renewable-energy technologies to provide affordable electricity in South Africa and also marked substantial progress in meeting its R3-billion investment commitment to the country.

The Red Sands BESS project will connect to the Garona substation and will help enhance grid stability by storing energy during off-peak times and releasing it during periods of peak demand.

It will also provide ancillary services and grid management support to the NTCSA.

NTCSA interim CEO Segomoco Scheppers said the entity looked forward to the positive impact of having battery technology in the energy mix, which would “contribute to the country’s dispatchable load and promote grid stability by the supply of ancillary services”.

The ancillary requirements included instantaneous reserves, regulating reserves, ten-minute reserves, and supplemental reserves.

To date, South Africa has procured a total of 1 744 MW/ 6 979 MWh of BESS capacity across three public procurement bid windows in line with the 2019 edition of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and no additional BESS bid window will be pursued until the next IRP edition is published.