To: Provincial Affiliations | Commodity Organisations | Corporate Members
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) will conduct a public hearing regarding Eskom’s request to classify congestion curtailment as a constrained generation ancillary service. Congestion curtailment is an operational strategy used to manage and mitigate grid congestion.
In May, Eskom applied to NERSA to reserve grid connection capacity for public independent power producers (IPPs) in anticipation of the upcoming Bid Window 7 procurement process. This reservation would be at the expense of private IPP projects.
The proposed framework for congestion curtailment will apply to all renewable energy resources connected to the grid due to their intermittent nature. This includes all renewable energy IPPs (section 34 and private IPPs) as well as renewable energy plants operated by Eskom. Both existing and new IPPs will be affected.
Eskom has indicated that congestion curtailment will only be necessary once the 3,470 MW specified in the Generation Connection Capacity Assessment 2025 addendum is connected to the grid – a process expected to take at least 18 to 24 months. Consequently, congestion curtailment is anticipated to be implemented from 2026.
The virtual public hearing will take place on August 22 starting at 09:30. AgriSA is currently trying to obtain the official link for thesession. Interested affiliates who would like to attend or present their views must submit their request to NERSA by August 5. Requests should be directed to publichearings@nersa.org.za.
Enquiries:
Kulani Siweya, Economics