In the substation on the outskirts of Johannesburg, energy storage cabinets are neatly lined up, absorbing surplus electricity from photovoltaic and wind power during the day and releasing it in the evening to stabilize peak electricity consumption. South Africa's peak shaving strategy is getting bigger and bigger. In the first round of procurement for IRP2025, 4.6GW of energy storage will be allocated in one go to install another batch of reservoirs for the power grid.

Energy storage gas dual pressure array

In this round, flexible resources will be added first, and no new scenery will be added for the time being. Energy storage is used to absorb surplus clean energy from the power grid and avoid network congestion during discharge; As a dispatchable power source, gas power plants provide a backup supply when the output of new energy is insufficient. Priority should be given to selecting energy storage sites at nodes with good conditions for surplus electricity consumption, and mandatory availability and performance assessments should be established. The mixed project of wind and solar energy storage will be reserved for procurement in subsequent batches. Keywords: South African energy storage,IRP2025

Double line entry and accumulation of momentum for going out to sea

South Africa has completed three rounds of public energy storage bidding, with a total of 1744MW landed. In addition to government led initiatives, the private market is also promoting large-scale solar energy storage hybrid projects. TotalEnergies and Scatec have already put their projects into operation, with public bidding and private development running in parallel. The long-term goal of IRP2025 is to add over 105GW of installed capacity nationwide by 2039, including 25GW planned for photovoltaics. This procurement will be organized and implemented by the Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO), and state-owned power company Eskom can also participate in bidding. Africa is a key region for energy storage companies to go global, and the industry chain can sustainably track the subsequent formal bidding and qualification review nodes.Editor/Min Jing