MONITORING RENEWABLE

ENERGY PERFORMANCE

OF POWER PLANTS

Tracking progress of 2017 (Issue 11)

March 2018

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Contents

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... 3

GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................................................ 3

ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................................... 4

1. Rationale of Monitoring Renewable Energy Performance of Power Plants .................................... 5

2. Renewable Energy Support in South Africa .................................................................................... 5

3. Implementing Policy for Accelerating Renewable Energy Deployment .......................................... 6

3.1. Ministerial Determinations ............................................................................................................... 6

3.2. Competitive Bidding of Renewable Energy ..................................................................................... 6

4. Status of Depart of Energy Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme .............................. 8

5. Energy Production of Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme Projects ... 10

6. Estimated costs of energy of DoE IPPs in 2017 ........................................................................... 12

7. Economic Benefits of the Renewable Power Plants under the Department of Energy

Procurement Programme .............................................................................................................. 13

8. Renewable Energy Power Plants not part of the Department of Energy’s Procurement

Programme .................................................................................................................................... 14

9. Concluding Remarks ..................................................................................................................... 16

APPENDIX A: Geographical location of DoE IPP Projects in South Africa .......................................... 17

APPENDIX B: List of all DoE IPPs in Commercial Operation ............................................................... 18

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Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

GLOSSARY

BID WINDOW

Means any of the procurement phases under the Renewable Energy Independent

Power Producer Procurement Programme of the Department of Energy.

ENERGY REGULATOR

Means the regulatory authority established as a juristic person in terms of Section 3 of

the National Energy Regulator Act, 2004 (Act No. 40 of 2004).

GOVERNMENT

Means the Government of the Republic of South Africa, and any of its departments,

agencies or other entities that it manages or controls.

GIGAWATT HOUR

Energy unit in which electricity consumption is measured. 1GWh = 1000MWh.

INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER (IPP)

IPPs are defined as typically limited-liability, investor-owned enterprises that generate

electricity either for bulk sale to an electric utility or for retail sale to industrial or other

customers with certain conditions.

MEGAWATT HOUR

Energy unit in which electricity consumption is measured. 1MWh = 1000kWh.

MINISTER

Means Minister of Energy

RENEWABLE ENERGY (from the 2003 White Paper on Renewable Energy)

Renewable energy harnesses naturally occurring non-depletable sources of energy,

such as solar, wind, biomass, hydro, tidal, wave, ocean current and geothermal, to

produce electricity, gaseous and liquid fuels, heat or a combination of these energy

types.

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ABBREVIATIONS

BW Bid Window

CF Capacity Factor

COD Commercial Operation Date

COP Conference of Parties

CSP Concentrated Solar Power

DoE Department of Energy

IPP Independent Power Producer

IRP Integrated Resource Plan

MW Megawatt

MWh Megawatt hour

NERSA National Energy Regulator of South Africa

PV Photovoltaic

RE Renewable Energy

GWh Gigawatt hour

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1. Rationale of Monitoring Renewable Energy Performance of

Power Plants

In terms of section 4 of the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act No. 40 of 2006) ('the

Act' or ‘the ERA’), the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) has a

mandate to 'establish and manage monitoring and information systems and co-

ordinate the integration thereof with other relevant information systems'. The

Renewable Energy (RE) Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are required to submit

reports on their monthly energy production, pursuant to section 15 of the Grid

Connection Code for Renewable Energy version 2.9 of 2016.

2. Renewable Energy Support in South Africa

The development and implementation of RE in South Africa is governed by existing

policies in the energy sector. These are outlined in Table 1.

Table 1: Policies promoting renewable energy

Policy Brief Description 2003 White Paper on Renewable Energy

Set a target of 10 000GWh by 2013 to be sourced from various renewable energy technologies

Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2010-2030

It is currently being updated.

Outlines the preferred energy mix aimed at ensuring that the electricity demand is met over the 20-year planning period

South Africa launched the Green Economy Accord1 at the Conference of Parties (COP17)

Launched in November 2011 in Durban at the COP17

Aimed at creating 300 000 new jobs by 2020 in economic activities as diverse as energy generation and manufacturing.

The other objective was to ensure that there are farming activities to provide feedstock for biofuels, soil and environmental management and eco-tourism.

In May 2011, the Department of Energy (DoE) gazetted the Electricity Regulations on

New Generation Capacity (Regulations) under the National Energy Regulator Act,

2004 (Act No. 40 of 2004) (ERA). The ERA and Regulations enable the Minister of

Energy to make Determinations in consultation with NERSA. In the Regulations,

Eskom is designated as the buyer of power from IPPs.

The National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 sanctioned in 2012 also supports the

development of RE as planned in the IRP2010–2030 of the country. Among some of

1 http://www.gov.za/south-africas-green-economy-accord, Accessed online 20 July 2017

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its goals, it identifies the need for South Africa to invest in economic infrastructure that

is aimed at supporting South Africa’s medium and long-term economic and social

objectives. As the heart of economic development, energy plays an important role in

ensuring that the economic growth plans set out by the country are realised.

3. Implementing Policy for Accelerating Renewable Energy

Deployment

3.1. Ministerial Determinations

The implementation of the promulgated IRP2010–2030 was carried out

using Ministerial Determinations, which are regulated by the Regulations.

To date, the Minister of Energy has made four Determinations for RE,

including the 2015 Solar Park Determination, and these are listed in

Table 2.

Table 2: RE IPP determinations

Determination Capacities (MW)

2011 Renewable IPP 3 800

2012 Renewable IPP 3 200

2015 Renewable IPP 6 300

2015 Solar Park 1 500

Total 14 800

3.2. Competitive Bidding of Renewable Energy

From 2011, the DoE has procured 6 427MW of RE in Bid Windows (BWs)

1 to 4, including a dedicated Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) BW, and

two separate BWs intended for small-scale projects. Figure 1 summarises

the capacities procured for the six BWs procured including submission

dates.

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Figure 1: Six bid windows procured by the Department of Energy. [Data from Department of Energy].

In total, 112 IPPs have been selected from the six BWs. These 112 IPPs are located

across all nine provinces with Northern, Eastern and Western Cape sharing the

majority of the projects. Figure A1 in Appendix A shows the geographical location of

RE projects across provinces of South Africa.

Table 3 shows the breakdown of procured capacity for various technologies.

Significant capacities for Wind (3 367MW) and Solar Projects (2 371MW) have been

procured from IPPs due to the abundance of these technologies.

Table 3: Capacity Allocation for various technologies.

Technology Total RE (MW)

Onshore wind 3 367

Solar PV 2 371

CSP 600

Small hydro 19

Landfill gas 18

Biomass 52

Biogas

Total (MW) 6 427

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4. Status of Depart of Energy Renewable Energy IPP Procurement

Programme

At the end of December 2017, the total number of the Department of Energy

Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer (‘DoE IPP’) projects that had

reached commercial operation was 63. Their total grid-capacity of DoE IPP projects

was approximately 3 781MW. These projects are from BW1 (28 projects), BW2 (19

projects) and BW3 (16 projects). Figure 2 shows the annual commercial DoE IPP

projects from 2013. As can be seen from the plot, the DoE IPP capacity has an

increasing trajectory. In the past five years, the average annual capacity addition was

approximately 756MW.

Figure 2: Cumulative capacity of DoE IPP projects on 31 December 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs].

Figure 3 shows incremental DoE IPP capacity from December 2016 to December

2017, including provincial capacity. In 2017, new DoE IPP power plants added nearly

872MW of capacity to the grid. The majority of these new DoE IPP projects are wind

farms.

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The last four projects that came online in the second half of 2017 were Loeriefontein

Wind Farm (138MW), Khobab (138MW), LongYuan Mulilo De Aar Wind Farm

(96.48W) and Longyuan De Aar 2 North Wind Farm (105MW), all of which are located

in the Northern Cape. The afore-mentioned projects contributed approximately

509MW to the total of nearly 872MW added in 2017.

Figure 4 illustrates the achieved capacity of DoE IPP for various technologies. The

total DoE IPP grid capacity on 31 December 2017 reached nearly 60% of the procured

capacity of 6328MW (in Table 2). Details of power plant information including CODs

of all operating projects is listed in Table B1 of Appendix B.

Figure 3: Capacity REIPP power plants per technology as of 31 December 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs]

Figure 4: Incremental capacity and provincial capacity in 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs].

Total DOE IPP capacity ~ 3781MW

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5. Energy Production of Renewable Energy Independent Power

Producer Programme Projects

In this section, the energy production of DoE IPP power plants in commercial operation

is analysed, focusing on the monthly contribution of the power plants. Figure 5 shows

the monthly energy production of DoE IPP power plants in 2017. The monthly energy

could exceed 700GWh per month in summer season.

Figure 5: Monthly Energy Production of RE IPPs in 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs].

The total energy sent-out from DoE IPP projects in 2017 was nearly 8 431GWh. This

energy produced was almost 2 000GWh more than in 2016. This is mainly attributed

to 871MW of new capacity from RE IPP power plants in 2017. Wind power plants

produced 4 578GWh of energy followed by solar Photovoltaic (PV) with 3 095GWh.

The comparison of monthly energy for the past two years is shown in Figure 6. It clear

that energy produced has increased from 2016, and this is attributed to new DoE IPP

projects that came online in 2017. The growth in energy production of DoE IPP projects

in 2017 is approximately 23% in comparison with 2016.

8 431GWh

produced by

DOE IPP in

2017:

-Solar PV 3 095GWh

-Wind 4 578GWh

-CSP 676GWh

-Small-hydro 67GWh

-Landfill 15GWh

Energy Produced by DoE IPP power plants in 2017

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Figure 6: Comparison of Monthly Energy production in 2017 with 2016.[Data sourced from IPPs]

Figure 7 below shows the energy contribution of DOE IPP projects to Eskom’s daily

system sent-out energy during 2017. It is evident from the plot that energy from DOE

IPP projects is relatively small compared to the system send-out. According to

NERSA’s analysis, the contribution of REIPPP projects compared to the Eskom fleet’s

energy sent-out in 2017 was in 4%.

Figure 7: Daily energy contribution of RE on the power grid from January to December 2017. [Data

sourced from IPPs and Eskom]

It may be argued that the additional energy from the DoE IPPs is not needed

considering the country’s current excess capacity situation, but this energy is likely to

help the power system in the medium to long-term, when growth in the economy

resumes.

Renewable Energy RE IPPP: ~ 4% of Eskom Send-Out in 2017

Comparison of 2017 Monthly DoE IPP Energy with 2016

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6. Estimated costs of energy of DoE IPPs in 2017

The energy that DoE IPPs generate and send out to the grid is priced based on the

specific technology and the economics of the project. The price paid to DoE IPPs by

Eskom is allocated by NERSA, based on forecast energy for a given period. In this

section, the price of various types of technology is calculated based on the energy

production submitted by DoE IPPs to NERSA and the average tariff of the IPP projects

base dated in April 2017. It should be noted that these prices are intended to give a

reasonable estimate of the cost of the energy from DoE IPPs. Payments related to

curtailed energy of DoE IPPs are not included in the analysis.

Figure 8 shows the calculated energy-weighted average prices of operational projects

per technology for operating projects from BW1, BW2 and BW3.

Figure 8: Calculated energy-weighted average prices of RE IPP projects per BW for 2017. [Data sourced

from IPPs]

Also shown in the plot are the calculated energy payments of DoE IPP projects for the

various types of technology. It is evident from the plot that CSP’s average price is still

relatively high, at R3 753/MWh compared to other technologies, due to peak prices

arising from use of storage in the evening periods.

Solar PV average prices are beginning to drop, owing to BW2 and BW3 projects whose

tariffs were more than 40% lower than BW1. The average price of PV for 2017 was

R2 518/MWh. The latter average price is expected to drop even further when BW4 PV

projects start operating i.e. April 2017. PV prices in BW4 are less than R1 000/MWh.

The small-hydro’s average price was approximately R1 470MWh and landfill gas’

average price nearly R1 228MWh. The total costs of the energy produced by DoE

IPPs in 2017 was approximately R16.3billion. This amount is made up of R7.8 billion

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for PV, R5.9 billion for wind, R2.5 billion for CSP, R99 million for small-hydro, and R18

million for landfill gas.

7. Economic Benefits of the Renewable Power Plants under the Department of Energy Procurement Programme

According to Section 13 of the Implementation Agreements issued on 03 August 2011

between IPP projects and DoE, IPP projects have obligations in terms of delivering

socio-economic benefits to local communities where projects are located.

In November 2017, NERSA requested Socio-Economic Development (SED)

information from DoE IPP projects. To date, NERSA has received 22 responses out

of 47 DoE IPP project companies under operation of BW1 and BW2. However, there

is continuous engagement with other RE IPPs regarding outstanding information.

Table 4 shows the list of the IPPs that submitted SED information from Commercial

Operation Date (COD) until the quarter ending 30 September 2017. Figure 9 shows

the amount spent by the projects listed in Table 4 on SED activities.

Table 4: DoE IPP power plants that submitted SED information for period ending 2017

Power Plant Technology

MetroWind Van Stadens Wind Farm Wind

Dorper Wind Farm Wind

SlimSun Swartland Solar Park, Fixed PV

CPV Power Plant No 1, Double axis tracking system PV

Solar Capital De Aar, Fixed PV

Herbert Solar PV Power Plant, Fixed PV

Greefspan PV

Lesedi PV, Fixed PV

Aries Solar PV Facility, Fixed PV

Khi Solar One, Tower type with storage CSP

Amakhala Emoyeni Wind Farm Wind

Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm Wind

Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm Wind

Sishen Solar Energy Facility PV

Klipheuwel Dassiefontein Wind

Chaba Wind Farm Wind

Waainek Wind Farm Wind

Grassridge Wind Farm Wind

Kalkbult PV

Linde PV

Dreunberg PV

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Figure 9: Socio-Economic development objectives reported by 22 DoE IPP power companies from COD till

30 September 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs].

From the information submitted by these DoE IPPs, the biggest spend on SED

activities was on education, amounting to R114.2 million, followed by enterprise

development with R36.1million. The grand total amount spent on all SED activities by

the projects was approximately R193 million.

8. Renewable Energy Power Plants not part of the Department of

Energy’s Procurement Programme

In addition to the DoE IPP procurement programme, there are other RE power plants

(‘non-DoE power companies’) connected to the grid. Non-DoE power companies are

selling power through other incentive schemes, such as willing-seller-willing-buyer

arrangements, as well as through green energy traders. Some municipalities own RE

power plants connected to the grid. Table 5 lists RE non-DoE power companies not

under the DoE IPP programme. Their total capacity on the grid is 822.75 MW.

~R193million

spent on SED

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Table 5: Renewable Energy Power plant outside DoE IPP programme.

# Renewable Energy Power Plant Capacity(MW) Technology /Resource type

Location

Independent Power Producers

1 Merino 4 Hydro Bethlehem, Free State

2 Sol Plaatjie 3 Hydro Bethlehem, Free State

3 Darlipp (Pty) Ltd * 5.2 Wind Windhoek Farm, Darling, Western Cape

4 Electrawinds * 1.8 Wind Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality

5 Mpact Piet Retief* 16 Baggase Piet Retief , Mpumalanga

6 Friedenheim Hydro Electric Power Station *

2.5 Hydro Nelspruit, Mpumalanga

7 Bronkhorstspruit Biogas Plant * 4.2 Biogas Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng

8 AC Witcher 5.67 Biomass Eastern Cape

9 Illovo * 6.5 Bagase KZN

10 CPV Powerplant No. 2 (Pty) Ltd 0.477 Solar CPV KZN

11 L'omarins * 2.4 Hydro Western Cape

Municipality Power Plants

12 Lydenburg * 2 Hydro Lydenburg Dorpsgrond

13 Piet Retief Hydro 0.6 Hydro Mkhondo Municipality

14 Clanwilliam Hydro Power Station* 1.5 Hydro ClanWilliam, Western Cape

ESKOM Power Plants

15 Gariep Hydro 360 Hydro Norvalsport/Between Free State & Northern Cape

16 Vanderkloof Hydro 240 Hydro Petrusville/Between Free State & Northern Cape

17 Transkei hydro Colleywobbles 42 Hydro Mbashe River/ Eastern Cape

18 Transkei Hydro First Falls * 6 Hydro Umtata River/ Eastern Cape

19 Transkei Hydro Second Falls 11 Hydro Umtata River/ Eastern Cape

20 Ncora Hydro * 2.1 Hydro Umtata River/ Eastern Cape

21 Sere Wind Farm * 105.8 Wind Western Cape

Total Capacity (MW) 822.75

Note: * These are power plants that reported data to NERSA in 2017.

In addition to the ones listed in Table 5, the following RE power plants are under

construction:

Shepa Trade (Biomass 2.5MW);

Green Grid Energy (Pty) Ltd (Biomass 3.6MW); and

Port Elizabeth Solar PV1 (Pty) Ltd (5.691MW).

Figure 10 shows the reported energy production of ten renewable energy power plants

listed in Table 5. These reporting power are marked with an asterisk (*) in the table.

The total energy production reported by these power plants in 2017 was 361GWh. It

should be noted that data for Sere wind farm in the first three months was not received

for this report, hence there seems to be low energy production for those months.

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Figure 10: Energy production of renewable energy power plants not in the DoE IPP programme.

9. Concluding Remarks

On 31 December 2017, the total of number of DoE IPP and non-DoE RE power

projects in commercial operation was 84. The latter number includes 63 DoE IPP

projects and 21 non-DoE power companies. Their total achieved capacity on the grid

was nearly 4 604MW. Based on energy production data submitted by DoE IPPs and

non-DoE power companies in 2017, the total energy produced was nearly 8 791GWh.

The calculated cost of 8 431GWh produced by DoE IPP projects in 2017 was

approximately R16.3 billion.

Regarding SED obligations, 22 RE IPP projects that submitted information to NERSA

spent R193 million on various SED components in the vicinity of their projects. From

the figures submitted, R114.2 million was spent on educational activities.

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APPENDIX A: Geographical location of DoE IPP Projects in

South Africa Figure A1: Renewable Projects of BW1 to BW 4. Numbers in the location markers indicate different BWs.

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APPENDIX B: List of all DoE IPPs in Commercial Operation

Table B1: DoE IPP projects in commercial operation

# Power Plant Province Technology Contracted Capacity (MW)

Achieved Capacity (MW)

Achieved COD

1 155 RustMo1 NW Solar PV 6.93 6.93 15-Nov-13

2 202 Hopefield WC Wind 65.4 65.40 01-Feb-14

3 138 MetroWind EC Wind 27 27.00 07-Feb-14

4 159 Kalkbult Solar PV NC Solar PV 72.5 72.40 19-Mar-14

5 163 Aries Solar PV NC Solar PV 9.65 9.65 20-Mar-14

6 128 Konkoonsies Solar PV NC Solar PV 9.65 9.65 20-Mar-14

7 182 PV De Aar (SAMR) NC Solar PV 45.6 45.60 05-Apr-14

8 572 Droogfontein (SAMR) NC Solar PV 45.6 45.40 06-Apr-14

9 696 Herbert Solar PV NC Solar PV 19.98 19.90 11-Apr-14

10 443 Greefspan Solar PV NC Solar PV 9.9 9.90 11-Apr-14

11 123 Dassieklip WC Wind 27 27.00 07-May-14

12 186 Jeffreys Bay (SAMR) EC Wind 138 135.11 15-May-14

13 031 Letsatsi FS Solar PV 64 64.00 21-May-14

14 032 Lesedi FS Solar PV 64 64.00 21-May-14

15 523 Linde NC Solar PV 36.8 36.80 30-Jun-14

16 052 Soutpan LP Solar PV 28 27.94 04-Jul-14

17 036 Nobelsfontein NC Wind 75 73.80 12-Jul-14

18 064 Mulilo de Aar NC Solar PV 10 10.00 19-Jul-14

19 375 Vredendal WC Solar PV 8.8 8.80 31-Jul-14

20 764 Upington Solar NC Solar PV 8.9 8.90 31-Jul-14

21 043 Dorper EC Wind 97.53 97.53 09-Aug-14

22 564 Solar Capital de Aar NC Solar PV 75 75.00 15-Aug-14

23 444 Reisa Kathu NC Solar PV 75 75.00 15-Aug-14

24 035 Witkop LP Solar PV 30 29.68 20-Sep-14

25 065 Mulilo Prieska NC Solar PV 20 19.93 01-Oct-14

26 750 Boshoff WC Solar PV 60 57.00 25-Oct-14

27 225 Cookhouse EC Wind 138.6 135.80 19-Nov-14

28 207 Sishen NC Solar PV 74 74.00 29-Nov-14

29 037 Touwsrivier (CPV No.1) WC Solar PV 36 36.00 05-Dec-14

30 562 Jasper NC Solar PV 75 75.00 17-Dec-14

31 373 Aurora Rietvlei WC Solar PV 9 8.90 23-Dec-14

32 527 Dreunberg EC Solar PV 69.6 69.60 31-Dec-14

33 815 Kakamas Hydro NC Hydro 10 10.00 31-Jan-15

34 118 Kaxu Solar One NC CSP 100 100.00 06-Feb-15

35 148 Kouga Red Cap EC Wind 80 77.70 17-Mar-15

36 364 Grassridge EC Wind 59.8 59.80 06-Jun-15

37 309 West Coast (Aurora) WC Wind 90.82 90.82 09-Jun-15

38 164 SlimSun WC Solar PV 5 5.00 05-Aug-15

39 014 Gouda WC Wind 135.5 135.50 28-Aug-15

40 372 Chaba EC Wind 21 21.00 12-Sep-15

41 362 Waainek EC Wind 23.28 23.28 10-Jan-16

42 798 Khi Solar One NC CSP 50 50.00 05-Feb-16

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Table B2: DoE IPP projects in commercial operation

# Power Plant Province Technology Contracted Capacity

Achieved Capacity

Achieved COD

43 002 Bokpoort CSP NC CSP 50 50.00 18-Mar-16

44 168 Solar Capital De Aar 3 NC Solar PV 75 75.00 02-Apr-16

45 0028_004 Noupoort Wind Farm NC Wind 79.05 79.05 11-Jun-16

46 0269_002 Mulilo Sonidix Prieska PV

NC Solar PV 75 75.00 22-Jul-16

47 240 Amakhala EC Wind 137 133.70 28-Jul-16

48 490 Stortemelk NC Hydro 4.22 4.22 29-Jul-16

49 0269_003 Mulilo Prieska PV 4 NC Solar PV 75 75.00 05-Aug-16

50 303 Tsitsikamma EC Wind 94.8 93.68 17-Aug-16

51 0338_001 Tom Burke Solar Park LP Solar PV 64 64.00 29-Aug-16

52 0077_001 Paleisheuwel WC Solar PV 75 75.00 12-Oct-16

53 0024_002 Nojoli EC Wind 86.6 86.60 31-Oct-16

54 0029_001 Robinsons Deep; Goudkoppies

GP Landfill 8.5 5.28 26-Nov-16; 25- Apr- 17

55 Adams Solar PV NC Solar PV 75 75.00 23-Jan-17

56 Pulida FS Solar PV 75 75.00 23-Jan-17

57 Red Cap Gibson Bay EC Wind 110 110.00 28-Apr-17

58 Xina Solar One NC CSP 100 100.00 01-Aug-17

60 Loriesfontein 2 Wind Farm NC Wind 138 138.00 08-Dec-17

61 Khobab Wind Farm NC Wind 136 136.00 08-Dec-17

62 Lingyuan Mulilo de Aar 2 North Wind

NC Wind 144 138.96 31-Oct-17

63 Lingyuan Mulilo de Aar Maanhaaberg

NC Wind 100.5 96.48 31-Oct-17

TOTAL COMMERCIAL CAPACITY 3810.51 3780.69

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