Page 4 - AfrElec Week 35

AfrElec POLICY AfrElec

South Africa launches 2GW

emergency tender

SOUTH AFRICA THE South African Department of Mineral Power projects selected in the tender will
Resources and Energy (DMRE) has revealed have to begin commercial operations by the end
the details of its tender for 2GW of short-term, of June 2022.
emergency generating capacity. The DMRE had specified in December that
The scheme, called the Risk Mitigation Inde- the procured capacity should be connected to the
pendent Power Producers Procurement Pro- grid in the shortest amount of time at the lowest
gramme (RMIPPPP), aims to procure 2GW possible cost.
of capacity in a bid to deal with the country’s The tender is aimed at reducing South Afri-
chronic short-term supply problems. ca’s dependence on Eskom for power supply.
The situation has become so severe that The troubled utility, which is currently unable
Eskom is now announcing localised power cuts, to meet the country’s power demand owing to
termed load-shedding in South Africa, almost financial and operational issues, recently began
every week. considering renewables for its plant portfolio.
Critics are concerned that 2020 will prove to It launched a tender for the deployment of 80
be the worst year for power cuts, even though MW/320 MWh of energy storage capacity at its
the government said at the end of 2019 that there Skaapvlei substation in the Western Cape region
would be no load-shedding after January 2020. in August, and another tender to repurpose coal
The DMRE said that the tender was tech-neu- plants with low-carbon growth tech in April.
tral, meaning that both renewable and fossil fuel This tender, together with another one for a
generators can make bids. small solar project issued in October, follows the
“The objective of the RMIPPPP is not only recent publication of South Africa’s new Inte-
to alleviate the current electricity supply con- grated Resource Plan (IRP), which aims for up
straints, but also to reduce the utilisation of to 6GW of new large-scale solar by 2030 as well
diesel-based peaking electrical generators,” the as up to 6GW of distributed-generation capacity.
DMRE said. Meanwhile, South African businesses are
“The programme seeks to procure 2,000 MW resorting to solar and renewables to improve
from a range of energy sources and technologies. their power supply. These include Arcelormittal,
Proposed technical solutions will have to be dis- South Africa-based chemicals producer Sasol
patchable and be able to provide a range of sup- and several mining companies.™
port services to the grid system operator.”

TARIFFS

Nigeria’s NERC lays down

new tariff rules

NIGERIA THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commis- engage with their customers on a service-based
sion (NERC) has unveiled new rules for distribu- tariff structure.
tion companies (Discos) that aim to raise tariffs The restrictions aim to improve bill payment
for end-users. rates while also increasing revenues for the pri-
NERC said in a statement this week that vatised Discos.
the rules would follow so-called service-based The rules aim to guarantee customers a mini-
principles. mum level of electricity services, based on hours
“Under these service-based principles, Dis- of supply. The new tariffs also insist on transpar-
cos will only be able to review tariff rates for ent metering, something that is not always avail-
customers when they consult with customers, able for many customers.
commit to increasing the number of hours of The rules also outlaw the practice of esti-
supply per day and quality of service. In all cases, mated billing, through the strict enforcement of
poor and vulnerable Nigerians will not experi- the capping regulation.
ence any increase.” This means that unmetered customers will
The Commission also pointed that in line not experience any cost increase beyond what
with these expectations, Discos are directed to is chargeable to metered customers in the same

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 03•September•2020