South Africa’s Public Works to tender for renewables after successful RFI

South Africa’s Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) is gearing up to launch a tender for renewables in what will be the largest programme for the procurement of renewable energy and resource efficiency for public facilities.

The department late last year issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the Integrated Renewable Energy and Resource Efficiency Programme (iREREP) – a DPWI programme to improve energy efficiency at government owned property and install renewable energy.

In a statement issued last week, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Patricia de Lille, said; “we are delighted with the level and quality of responses we received in this phase of the programme. It is evident that we will be able to find companies or consortiums with the requisite capability to deliver on the programme.”

“We encourage private sector participants across renewable energy, energy efficiency, water efficiency and alternative waste management and through their various roles including prospective bidders, prospective sponsors, lenders, local manufacturers, prospective suppliers, prospective advisors and other interested parties as we further cement partnerships between Government and the Private Sector, to join us for the sessions and look out for the invitation and dates for their respective sector engagement,” de Lille added.

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) will issue the request for proposal (RFP) in the first quarter of 2022, according to a statement issued last week. The Department says it will also host a bidder’s conference following the opening of the RFP, and will announce details on the winning bids ‘in the coming weeks’.

The DPWI property portfolio is the largest in South Africa and is responsible for the consumption of a significant amount of electricity and water and generation of a significant amount of waste. Recent studies place annual electricity and water consumption at an estimated 4021 Gigawatt hours 39 million kilolitres respectively, with over 822 kilotons of waste generated. This equates to an average annual expenditure on electricity and water of R2.4 billion and R1.8 billion respectively.