Pretoria - Eskom has identified 18 companies which were selected among the bids to receive the lease of land for renewable energy projects in the power utility’s stations in Mpumalanga.
The land is owned by Eskom and is situated around coal-fired power stations.
Eskom owns about 36 000 hectares of land in Mpumalanga and this first round of bidding made available 4 000 hectares under the new programme.
The state-owned utility said no contracts had been signed as the companies should first obtain environmental impact assessment clearance.
“The companies cannot be named as no contracts have been signed as yet. Eskom will make an announcement of the successful companies once all the processes have been finalised,” said Eskom chief executive Andrè de Ruyter.
The projects will bring online a total of 1 800MW generation capacity once connected.
De Ruyter said the land lease agreements with the successful bidders would be signed by August.
“This shows what can be achieved with reduced red tape and the impact of the liberalisation of the energy sector. This additional capacity will be added to the grid without any cost to the taxpayer.”
The land lease agreements will be concluded on a commercial basis, with Eskom earning some income from the lease of the land while the projects will enter into sale agreements for the electricity with third parties.
IOL