Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has officially disclosed the names of the first 28 renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) preferred bidders.

The projects were among an initial batch of 53 bids submitted for the November 4 bid window and represent potential capacity of 1 415.52 MW and potential investment representing billions of rand.

The preferred bidders named included 18 solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, eight onshore wind projects and two concentrated solar power (CSP) projects.

Afri-Coast Engineers is proud to announce its participation as co-developers in two of the wind projects listed, which collectively represented 107 MW of capacity, namely: the Metrowind Van Stadens wind farm and the Red Cap Kouga wind farm - Oyster Bay.

The Department of Energy (DoE) is currently aiming to procure 1 850 MW of onshore wind, 1 450 MW of solar PV, 200 MW of CSP, 75 MW of small hydro, 25 MW of landfill gas and 12.5 MW apiece of biomass and biogas capacity. All projects need to be generating power by mid-2014.