South Africa’s third battery bidding round attracts 33 project submissions

A total of 33 bids have been submitted for South Africa’s latest bidding round for 616 MW/2 464 MWh of utility-scale battery storage capacity that is being procured across five pre-selected substation sites in the Free State.

A submission deadline for what is the country’s third bid window for the technology was initially set for July 31, but was later revised to November 28.

The Independent Power Producer Office, which manages the public procurement of new  generation and storage capacity on behalf of the Electricity and Energy Ministry, has published a list of the bidders that have collectively submitted projects across all of the sites with a combined capacity of 4 067 MW/16 268 MWh.

The sites have been identified by Eskom and include the Harvard, Leander, Theseus, Everest, and Merapi substations.

Confirmation of the bid submission follows recent announcements that four projects selected as preferred bidders during the inaugural battery storage bid window have advance to financial close, while a fifth project is expected to close in early 2025.

Preferred bidders from the second bid window are expected to be named in the coming weeks.