The 86 MW Prieska solar photovoltaic (PV) project, in the Northern Cape, has been officially inaugurated, having entered commercial operation in July. The plant has been developed by the Mulilo Sonnedix joint venture and was opened at the end of October by Sonnedix CEO Andreas Mustad and Mulilo CEO Johnny Cullum.Mustad reports that the plant is the largest in Sonnedix’s global solar PV fleet, which spans nine countries and 66 individual plants. Situated 50 km south-west of the town of Prieska, the project is located on a 125-ha site. It required over 1.6-million person-hours to build and Cullum reports that more than half of the 1 720 construction workers were drawn from local communities. Construction began on April 28, 2015, with juwi Solar ZA Construction as the engineering, procurement and construction partner.

THE South African Wind Energy Association (Sawea) is considering legal options in a bid to get Eskom CEO Brian Molefe to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) for round four of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). Sawea says 26 projects totalling R50-billion in investment are at stake, as Eskom delays signing round four of the REIPPPP.“We are getting detailed legal advice. The renewable energy programme is stuck on the desk of the CEO of Eskom, who holds the pen. We are looking at legal options to get past this impasse,” said Sawea chairperson Mark Pickering. Sawea has launched an official complaint with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) over Eskom’s failure to comply with Ministerial determinations. If Eskom is found guilty, Sawea has requested that Nersa impose the maximum legislated penalty of 10% of Eskom’s daily turnover for each day that Eskom continues to delay the programme.