EASTERN CAPE NEWS - EDF power solutions is pleased to announce that its Umoyilanga hybrid project successfully reached Provisional Commercial Operations Date (Provisional COD) with its Dassiesridge Plant in the Eastern Cape, on Friday 5 December.
The Umoyilanga project combines solar, wind and battery storage technologies to offer dispatchable and reliable power to the national electrical grid, up to a Contracted Capacity of 75MW.
Once fully complete, this innovative project will operate as a virtual power plant, combining generation from two sites which are 900 km apart, namely Avondale in the Northern Cape, with 115 MW of solar PV and 30 MW of battery storage, and Dassiesridge in the Eastern Cape, with 63 MW of wind and 45 MW of battery storage.
The low-carbon electricity produced will help to meet the electricity needs of 120 000 households for 20 years, based on the Eskom residential consumption average of 3 319 kWh/household.
The construction phase of Dassiesridge was completed over a two-year period, thanks to the mobilization of local workers for close to 1 million man-hours. This milestone was achieved in partnership with key contractors Power Construction and Adenco (balance of plant), and Vestas (wind turbines).
Furthermore, the project has successfully fulfilled its Economic Development commitments, specifically regarding local content and local procurement. Under the terms of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed with NTCSA, the Dassiesridge facility will now start delivering a Net Dependable Capacity of 55MW to the grid.
This Provisional Period will continue until Umoyilanga reaches full COD, upon the commissioning of the Avondale Plant. Following full COD, local communities and enterprises surrounding the facilities will benefit from an investment of over R200m committed by the project towards supplier, skills, enterprise and socio-economic development initiatives over the 20-year operating period.
“Our focus now shifts fully to optimising dispatched energy with Dassiesridge, and resolving outstanding issues at Avondale, to achieve full COD as early as possible in 2026,” said Gregoire de Montgolfier, Umoyilanga Project Director.
This milestone follows in the wake of the consortium of leading international renewable energy supplier, EDF Renewables (now EDF power solutions), and privately held investment company Perpetua Holdings (Pty) Ltd, winning the Umoyilanga project bid in the South African Government’s Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), in March 2021.
The project then achieved Commercial and Financial Close on 28 November 2023, after signing the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), and the Implementation Agreement (IA) on 30 August 2023.
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