As South Africa experiences yet another period of load-shedding, the option of generating electricity for personal use is starting to look all the more attractive.

“We will face generation constraints going forward. We have therefore welcomed the latest announcement from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) to procure more energy capacity,” says State-owned power utility Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter.

Last month, the DMRE announced that it was opening Bid Window Six of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

It is anticipated that 2 600 MW of renewable energy will be procured from independent power producers. Of this, 1.6 GW will be produced by wind – in line with the gazetted Integrated Resource Plan 2019.

“We should start seeing additional capacity brought to the grid by next year and we really look forward to that as it will alleviate some of the pressure we are currently seeing and give us more headroom to perform maintenance on Eskom fleets,” says De Ruyter.

He shares that Eskom has started a bid process for renewable energy projects on Eskom-owned land, which would also be added to the grid in the next 18 to 24 months.

Enlit Africa has been connecting the utility industry on the continent for more than two decades.

Supporting De Ruyter’s sentiments, Enlit Africa head of content Claire Volkwyn says these moves are well in line with global trends toward the procurement of more renewable energy generation as part of the energy transition to a cleaner, greener, more sustainable energy sector – and the focus of discussions at Enlit Africa.

“June's edition [of Enlit Africa] will bring new features to the line-up, including the first fully hybrid event – with the opening keynote address taking place over two days and sessions streamed to attendees globally via our digital platforms,” Volkwyn continues.

Enlit Africa's programme highlights the changing energy sector, the energy transition and the technology bringing light to millions across the continent.

Enlit Africa commercial project lead Stephen Campbell says the organisers are pleased to be welcoming back industry leaders and associations including Eskom, the DMRE, City of Cape Town, Wesgro, the South African Energy Storage Association and more. “We are also proud to announce that online journal ESI Africa will be covering the event as our official partner publication.”