Yesterday was a big day for South Africa’s renewable energy programme

From Engineering News found here

There was an overwhelmingly positive reaction from developers, investors, financiers and suppliers on Monday, November 5, to the eventual signing of the agreements needed to facilitate the entry of the first large-scale renewable-energy projects into South Africa, some of which should begin producing during 2014.

By midday, the South African government, Eskom and the independent power producers (IPPs) began physically signing the power purchase, implementation and direct agreements for projects, collectively representing an investment value of around R47-billion and wind and solar capacity of around 1 415 MW.

Department of Energy (DoE) director-general Nelisiwe Magubane was designated by Energy Minister Dipuo Peters to sign the implementation agreements on behalf of government, while Eskom executive Kannan Lakmeeharan initialled the power purchase and direct agreements with the 28 IPPs – a process scheduled to continue for about six or seven hours.

The agreements, struck at exchange rates of R8.77 to the US dollar, R11.25 to the euro and R14.06 to the British pound, open the way for the developers to reach financial closure over the coming few weeks – this, in turn, would facilitate the necessary financial drawdowns required for construction to start