{"id":832606,"date":"2025-07-23T10:37:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T08:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=832606"},"modified":"2025-07-23T10:41:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T08:41:22","slug":"r13-billion-nail-in-the-coffin-for-load-shedding-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/832606\/r13-billion-nail-in-the-coffin-for-load-shedding-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"R13 billion nail in the coffin for load shedding in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Norway-based renewable energy group Scatec ASA has been awarded preferred bidder status for a R13 billion solar cluster project in South Africa, which will add a total of 846MW to the grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Kroonstad PV cluster project was adopted by the Department of Electricity and Energy (DEE) in the seventh round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The award follows a re-allocation of MW under the seventh bid window from onshore wind to solar PV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once operational, the projects will provide clean and reliable energy under 20-year purchase power agreements (PPAs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project will be built in the Free State, with the cluster comprising three solar power plants:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Oslaagte Solar 2 (293 MW) <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Oslaagte Solar 3 (293 MW)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Leeuwspruit Solar (260 MW)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The estimated total project cost for the solar cluster project is R13 billion, the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The projects will be financed with up to 90% non-recourse project debt and the remaining by equity from the owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scatec CEO Terje Pilskog said the projects represent an important milestone for the group, which already has a significant and growing renewable energy footprint on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that the Kroonstad PV project is Scatec\u2019s largest megawatt award to date in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;South Africa is one of our core markets and we are dedicated to continuing to grow our renewables capacity in the country in alignment with the nation\u2019s energy transition agenda,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group will now move to reach financial close and start construction of the PV cluster during 2026. Financial close is expected in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scatec will own 50.90% of the equity in the project with Stanlib\u2019s infrastructure fund through its renewable energy platform, Greenstreet, along with Redstreet owning 46.50% and a Community Trust holding 2.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group will also provide engineering, procurement, and construction, operations and maintenance, and asset management services for the project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scatec is prolific in South Africa&#8217;s renewable energy bid windows, having won preferred bidder status in many rounds, as well as successfully launching multiple projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group has operated smaller solar projects since 2013, and the scale has increased over the years, culminating in its latest cluster bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scatec&#8217;s 540MW triple-cluster Kenhardt solar farm in the Northern Cape is currently its largest project in South Africa. It launched in April 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2013 &#8211; Kalkbult, South Africa (in operation): 75 MW solar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2014 &#8211; Dreunberg, South Africa (in operation): 75 MW solar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2014 &#8211; Linde, South Africa (in operation): 40 MW solar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2023 &#8211; Kenhardt, South Africa (in operation): 540 MW solar and 225 MW battery storage<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2024 &#8211; Grootfontein, South Africa (under construction): 273 MW solar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2024 &#8211; Mogobe BESS, South Africa (under construction): 103 MW battery storage<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2025 &#8211; Kroonstad PV cluster, South Africa (preferred bid): 846MW solar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kenhardt-6-1-scaled-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"516\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kenhardt-6-1-scaled-1-1024x516.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-768663\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kenhardt-6-1-scaled-1-1024x516.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kenhardt-6-1-scaled-1-300x151.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kenhardt-6-1-scaled-1-768x387.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kenhardt-6-1-scaled-1-1536x773.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kenhardt-6-1-scaled-1-2048x1031.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Scatec&#8217;s Kenhardt 540MW solar farm us current its biggest development in South Africa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Norway-based renewable energy group Scatec ASA has been awarded preferred bidder status for a R13 billion solar cluster project in South Africa, which will add a total of 846MW to the grid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":832622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[2242,17200,8540],"class_list":["post-832606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-renewable-energy","tag-scatec-asa","tag-solar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832606"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":832629,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832606\/revisions\/832629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}