South Africa has announced eight preferred bidders to provide emergency power as the state-run electricity monopoly continues to implement rolling blackouts that are weighing on the economy.
Those selected include Karpowership, mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday in a presentation.
The projects are expected to come online within 18 months under a so-called Risk Mitigation Independent Power Procurement Programme. His department said last month it received 28 bids to supply a total of 5GW of emergency power.
By announcing the preferred bidders, the government met its most recent deadline to roll out new power capacity after delays.
Eskom has said that generation by independent producers is essential in the effort to meet demand, after South Africa experienced record power cuts in 2020 with more outages expected this year. — (c) 2021 Bloomberg LP
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