CEO Voice: September 2020

CEO Voice: September 2020

Dear Members,

As the country is going through the continuous energy crisis it seems that government is beginning to move towards closing the electricity supply capacity gap. The long-awaited Ministerial Determination was gazetted this month, which is great news as it brings us a step closer to procurement of new generation capacity. We have heard a couple of times from the IPP Office that the Round 5 of REIPPPP RFP should be expected in the first quarter of 2021, and that they have sufficient capacity to handle both the RMIPPPP and the REIPPPP.

Following our engagement with the IPP Office regarding the RMIPPPP and several clauses in the RFP that made it difficult for the wind sector to participate, we were informed that the questions would be addressed during the bidder’s conference, which was held on the 25^th of September. I will address the content of the bidder’s conference in a separate member update.

Now that the sector is gearing up for the next phase of renewable energy developments, following the gazetting of the Ministerial Determination, SAPVIA and SAWEA have joined forced to launch a capacity development initiative called Developing Developers programme.

The seven-part webinar series, which launched on 17th September with more than 600 participants in attendance, is designed to address the gaps in the local industry and ensure effective knowledge sharing across the value chain of South Africa’s nascent renewables sector. As renewable energy associations we want to ensure that local developers, current or potential, can access the knowledge and expertise needed to take projects from development through due diligence, financial close right up to commissioning.

The following topics are covered in the series which will be held monthly until March 2021:

• Understanding the REIPPPP RFP
• The legal outlook: Contacts and Agreement
• The Financial Outlook: Bankability to Financial Close
• The Socio-Economic Impact
• Fundamentals of RE Project Development
• Commissioning Projects: Engineering Procurement Construction
• Operating Projects: Asset Management, Operations & Maintenance

During the month of September, the President announced that the country will be moving to level 1 lockdown, which lifts a lot of restrictions and further opens up the economy. This is also an indication that possibly the worst is behind us with regards to the spread of COVID-19. The President has challenged South Africans to participate in the Jesusalema Dance Challenge and reflect on the difficult period we are coming from. SAWEA has decided to accept the challenge and we will be hosting the dance in Johannesburg on the 9^th October. We invite all the Johannesburg based members to join us, details have been sent in a separate email.

Kind Regards,
Ntombifuthi Ntuli
CEO (SAWEA)