Bad news for renewable energy in South Africa

South Africa’s plan to build new renewable power capacity is at risk after the regulator rejected a bid by generators to access the electricity grid, an industry association said. 

The refusal may doom the so-called Bid Window 7 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, the South African Wind Energy Association said in a statement on Monday.

A previous attempt to lure investors also failed, according to the association.

“The failure to address grid allocation processes has resulted in significant delays and financial losses, devastating investor confidence and jeopardizing the success of wind energy projects,” the body said in the statement.

The lack of grid capacity may jeopardize 66 gigawatts of wind and solar plants that are at various stages of development, Raine Adams, an analyst at fund manager Allan Gray, wrote in a note earlier this year.

It may reverse gains Africa’s most-developed nation made in halting rolling blackouts that have plagued the nation and its economy for years.

“With no solution in sight, the grid challenges will continue to undermine the open electricity market envisaged by the Electricity Regulation Act Amendment Bill,” the association said.