SunEdison, Inc. today announced it has been awarded an additional five solar photovoltaic projects in South Africa, totaling 371MW DC. This award stems from the extended capacity announcement for the fourth bid round of the Renewable Energy IPP Procurement (REIPPP) Programme organized by South Africa's Department of Energy (DOE).
The five solar power plants will be located in the Northern Cape and North West Provinces and are expected to produce enough energy to power the equivalent of more than 200,000 South African homes. Eskom will purchase the solar energy under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
"Over the past 3 years, SunEdison has had a successful track record delivering highly reliable, affordable solar power to South Africa," said Pashupathy Gopalan, SunEdison president, Asia Pacific. "We selected project sites that strengthen the Eskom grid and distribute project benefits across a range of communities. Building on SunEdison's previous commitment to employment and social programmes in our host communities, the five projects awarded will offer local enterprise development, skills development and procurement programmes."
After construction, operation and maintenance of the power plant will be performed by SunEdison Service.