AfrElec: Cape Town issues 500-MW energy tender to pursue independence from South Africa's national grid

The South African city of Cape Town has announced it is issuing its largest energy tender to date at 500 MW in continuing pursuit of becoming independent from the national grid.

Cape Town, through its ZAR2.3bn ($127.5mn) “Building Hope” budget, aims to offer protection from the first four stages of power outages, or load shedding, imposed by the state power utility Eskom, within the next three years, according to Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

The tender is for competitive proposals from independent power producers (IPPs) focusing on dispatchable technologies, including gas-to-power and battery storage. These power sources, says the mayor, need to be in a city-supply area and will be required to generate power for a significant portion of the day. Successful bidders will enter into a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the city.

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