South Africa’s Department of Electricity and Energy said on 28 October that it had appointed no preferred bidders in the first bid window of its gas-to-power procurement programme, which sought 2,000 megawatts (MW). All four bids, totalling 2,830 MW, failed mandatory criteria, mainly because developers could not guarantee long-term gas supply. South Africa imports most of its gas from Mozambique, where output is declining, and has no operating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal. The result leaves the country without new flexible generation to back up renewables and raises pressure on industrial gas users facing supply deadlines in 2028 and 2030. Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa promised details of a revised process before the end of the year.
Sources
- BusinessDay: https://www.businessday.co.za/companies/2026-10-28-south-africas-debut-gas-to-power-tender-fails-on-supply-worries/
- Daily Maverick: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-28-eleven-years-thousands-of-megawatts-zero-delivery-sas-gas-to-power-procurement-failure/
- Inside Politics: https://insidepolitic.co.za/no-preferred-bidders-appointed-for-first-gas-to-power-procurement-round/