South Africa has been experiencing power supply issues and is now looking into available options including dispatchable power to boost the grid.

On 22 August, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) issued the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP).

The RMIPPPP is a direct response to the short-term electricity supply gap as identified in the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 (IRP 2019).

This comes as the national power utility, Eskom, has recently been implementing loadshedding attributing it to aged generation infrastructure, cold weather and planned maintenance.

The objective of the RMIPPPP is, not only to alleviate the current electricity supply constraints, but also, to reduce the utilisation of dieselbased peaking electrical generators, the DMRE said in a statement.

The programme seeks to procure 2,000MW from a range of energy sources and technologies. Proposed technical solutions will have to be dispatchable and be able to provide a range of support services to the grid system operator.

All power procured under this programme is expected to be fully operational by not later than the end of June 2022.

The department explained that the RFP is designed to support Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment initiatives including ownership and localisation.

Bidders will have to make commitments in terms of job creation, socio-economic development, supplier and enterprise development and skills development.

Stringent local content thresholds and targets have been introduced that should provide impetus to the local construction and manufacturing sectors. This RFP is expected to attract investment in the region of R40 billion.