Bid winners of energy programme announced

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"We are advising on one concentrated solar project, one landfill gas project, two onshore wind projects, and one solar photovoltaic project that received preferred bidder status in Round 3 of the REIPPPP. We have also advised four additional preferred bidder projects on an ad hoc basis," according to Kieran Whyte, director and National Practice Head of the Projects and Infrastructure Practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr.

"We are under mandate on a number of other onshore wind and solar photovoltaic projects that submitted bids under Round 3 that could still be selected as additional preferred bidders as outlined by the Department of Energy. The department noted in an announcement on their website that "...a large number of very competitive Bid Responses were submitted for the Third Bid Submission Date in the onshore wind and solar photovoltaic technologies, and the Department is considering the appointment of additional Preferred Bidders for those technologies from the remaining compliant bidders."

No final decision

As such, the referred bidders that have been appointed in those technologies may not be the only preferred bidders that are appointed in those technologies for the Third Bid Submission Date, and no final decision on this has been taken at this time. The Department will make a further announcement regarding its decision in this regard in due course, and is intending to do so by not later than 20 November 2013."

Whyte said that both the firm's Cape Town and Johannesburg offices were involved in the projects across many practice areas from projects and infrastructure, project finance, environmental, corporate and commercial, intellectual property, BEE, construction and engineering, employment including immigration, tax including foreign exchange as well as customs and excise, competition, public procurement and administrative law. This made teamwork essential.

Six phases

The Department of Energy's REIPPPP was launched in August 2011 and provides for the procurement of 6 725MW of renewable energy from renewable energy sources, such as onshore wind, concentrated solar power, solar photovoltaic, biomass, biogas, landfill gas and small hydro. The REIPPPP is being conducted in six phases and 2 459.3MW of energy has been awarded in the first two bid submission phases.

The request for proposals (RFP) was updated for the Third Bid Submission Phase, and was released in May 2013. The DoE introduced a number of significant changes to the RFP including increased local content and economic development. Bids for the Third Bid Submission Phase were submitted to the DoE on 19 August 2013. The target allocation for the Third Bid Submission Phase under the RFP was 1 473.1MW. The Preferred Bidders appointed have a total contracted capacity of 1 471.5 MW. Under the current schedule legal close is anticipated to take place before the end of July 2014.

The DoE estimates that by the end of the Sixth Bid Submission, the REIPPPP will have attracted investment to the value of in excess of R100bn over its lifetime in the renewable energy sector.