The Department of Energy of South Africa plans to announce preferred bidders for gas projects by the end of March 2017, as the country aims to add more than 3 GW of gas-fired power capacity to meet soaring electricity demand.
In May 2015, South Africa invited consortia to submit plans to build the first LNG import terminal of the country, storage facilities, gas transmission pipelines and gas-fired power plants. More than 100 bidders, including Shell and ExxonMobil, have submitted offers for the gas project, not including a 600 MW gas-fired power plant that is being developed by the independent power producers unit of the Department of Energy.
South Africa aims to develop new gas import facilities, especially floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) that are rapidly developed. New gas-fired power plant could then be located on the coast near LNG import terminals, such as Richards Bay or Coega.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy has announced a new delay in the nuclear power procurement but its remains committed. The DoE was supposed to issue a tender for the construction of six to eight nuclear power plants with a combined capacity of 9,600 MW on 30 September 2016 but postpone the tender to allow for further consultation. The nuclear plans have raised concerns over high costs (R1,000bn, i.e. US$73bn).