The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) registered 105 new generation facilities with a total capacity of 788 MW and an investment value of R18,4 billion from January to March 2024 (NERSA’s fourth quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year). The regulator said this continued the steady growth in independent power producer (IPP) registrations observed since 2022.

Six of the 105 generation facilities were registered for commercial purposes with capacity of 462 MW and an investment cost of R12,4 million.

The Western Cape generated the highest investment cost for the fourth quarter at R7,2 billion with an installed capacity of 213 MW. The Northern Cape and North West followed in second and third place. Gauteng registered the greatest number of facilities but with only 25 MW installed capacity.

Solar photovoltaic generation was the most favoured technology with 99 generation facilities registered and a total capacity of 499 MW. However, only one generation facility in KwaZulu Natal – with total capacity of 1 MW and investment value of R9 million – was registered with a battery energy storage system (BESS).

The regulator expressed concern about the large number of registered facilities that are not coupled with storage as this further deepens the ‘California Duck Curve’ effect in which there is an imbalance between peak demand and solar power generation.

“BESS technology has not yet reached maturity in the South African electricity supply industry. This can be attributed to financial implications and the prevailing culture where BESS technology is considered new in the market. There is a critical need for registration applications for generation facilities of variable energy sources to be coupled with battery storage,” said the Regulator Member responsible for electricity regulation at NERSA, Nhlanhla Gumede.

The technological composition of the new builds also included two wind turbine facilities in the Western Cape, two gas facilities in Mpumalanga and Gauteng and one cogeneration facility in the Western Cape.

While 28 are connected to municipal distribution networks, 77 of the 105 new generation facilities are connected to the Eskom network.

“The average investment cost for the fourth quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year is R23 374 per kW.

“NERSA processed all the above applications within an average of nine working days,” Gumede said.

This is NERSA’s sixth year of the IPP registration programme, which has registered 1 415 new generation facilities since its launch in 2018. Of these new entities, 64% have been registered in the past three years.

A detailed list of the 105 new registered generation facilities is available on the NERSA website at www.nersa.org.za.