Two wind projects under Bid Window Five (BW5) of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) have reached financial close – the first REIPPPP projects to advance to financial close since 2018 and also the first BW5 projects to reach the milestone.

Located on the border of the Eastern and Northern Cape provinces, the projects are the Phezukomoya and San Kraal wind energy facilities with capacities of 140 MW apiece and which will be built by EDF Renewables and its partners, H1 and Gibb-Crede.

Standard Bank and Absa acted as the joint mandated lead arrangers and lenders for the projects.

The two wind farms are expected to be commissioned between mid-2024 and the beginning of 2025.

Power purchase and implementation agreements for the projects, together with the 140 MW Coleskop wind project, were signed with Eskom and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) in September, and it is anticipated that the Coleskop wind project will achieve financial close in January.

The combined investment value of the three projects is estimated at R11.5-billion.

Each project, including Coleskop, will comprise 26 wind turbines, with a height of 124 m and a blade length of 83 m.

EDF Renewables will also be constructing the Koruson main transmission substation on behalf of Eskom, under a self-build agreement, which will be transferred to Eskom upon completion.

“This project confirms our long-term goals in the country, adding to the almost 1 GW that EDF Renewables already develops, builds, or operates in South Africa, supporting ours and government’s ambitions to develop low-carbon energy solutions for the future,” EDF Renewables in South Africa CEO Tristan de Drouas said in a statement.

The DMRE reported last week that three Red Rocket South Africa wind projects, with a combined capacity of 364 MW and a combined investment value of R9-billion, had also signed project agreements under the much-delayed BW5 and that additional projects would be signed in the coming weeks.

A total of 25 wind and solar PV projects were selected as preferred bids under BW5 in October last year following a seven-year disruption to the REIPPPP after the then State-captured Eskom leadership refused to sign power purchase agreements with independent power producers.

The DMRE initially set a deadline of the end of October for all BW5 projects, which are consuming scare grid-access rights, to sign their agreements.

However, the department confirmed with Engineering News last week that the deadline had again been extended after representations from the remaining BW5 preferred bidders, as well as the eight preferred bidders selected under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.