Mainstream Renewable wins big in South Africa's auction round

Mainstream Renewable Power announced that 12 of its projects won preferred bidder status in Round 5 of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The wind and solar projects, which have a total capacity of 1.27 GW, represent half of the total allocation in the Round, which was the most competitive to date, being almost four times oversubscribed.  

The Mainstream-led consortium, named 'Ikamva', which means "the future" in Xhosa, will deliver six onshore wind projects and six solar PV projects, including the first REIPPPP project in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.

As a result of this award, Mainstream will double the size of its South African team and will be actively recruiting another 100 South Africans to support the engineering and construction of the 12 projects.  

The projects will produce approximately 4,500 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of green electricity each year, helping to avoid nearly 5 million tonnes of CO2 per annum, once fully operational. It will provide South Africa with critical, low-cost, indigenous power and help deliver a just transition towards its clean energy and climate goals.  

Hein Reyneke, Mainstream’s General Manager for Africa, said: "We are delighted to be chosen to contribute further to the decarbonisation of South Africa. It is a demonstration of faith in Mainstream’s track record of efficient and reliable delivery, not only here in South Africa but also internationally, where we are currently building ten wind and solar PV projects simultaneously, totalling 1.35 GW in Chile. Our latest win will deliver enormous social, economic and environmental benefits for South Africa."