Nersa makes Refit phase two decision; PPA expected in Nov

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) on Friday published it’s decision on the second phase of the Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (Refit), and stated that the power purchase agreement could be expected in November.

“The public comments received on the power purchase agreement (PPA) will be reflected in the final revision of the PPA scheduled for the end of November 2009. The other commercial agreements such as direct agreement, fuel supply agreement and transmission connection agreement will be considered for inclusion in the PPA,” said Nersa.

The regulator added that the Refit power purchase agreement (PPA) document, together with Refit guidelines will be revised in six month’s time.

Nersa outlined that the tariff for Concentrated Solar Power  (CSP) trough without storage would be R3,14/kWh, and CSP tower with storage capacity of six hours a day would receive a tariff of R2,31/kWh.

Solid biomass would receive R1,18/kWh, while biogas would receive R0,96/kWh.

Large scale grid connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, with generating capability greater than 1MW, would receive R3,94/kWh.

Small scale grid connected PV systems were not included under the Refit phase two, despite the fact that many industry players had called for the inclusion of smaller systems at the public hearings into the Refit phase two, which took place in September.

The regulator added that that the Refit for concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) was not included at this stage, owing to the high economic cost, and said that fossil fuel would be allowed for the CSP technology, but would be limited to a maximum of 15% of the total primary energy input.

Nersa also said that that the standardised Direct Agreement, Fuel Supply Agreement, Transmission Connection Agreement, and Transmission Use of System Agreement would be included as schedules of the Refit PPA, in the first yearly review of the Refit.

It was hoped that the Refit would promote a renewable energy market in South Africa to meet the government target of 10 000GWh of power produced from renewable sources by 2013.

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