South Africa’s power distribution company, Eskom Holdings, has invited bids to offtake 291 MW of power from its solar projects. The tender is a part of Eskom’s Renewable Energy Offtake Program, which was launched to transition away from coal-based power sources.

Bids must be submitted by September 19, 2025.

Selected bidders must submit a performance bond guarantee from two financial institutions that are pre-approved by Eskom’s treasury.

Bidders must bid for the offtake of at least 10 MW of power by signing power purchase agreements (PPAs) for five to 20 years.

The energy purchased through the PPA must not exceed the notified maximum demand under the electricity supply agreement.

The earliest expected project commercial operation period is December 2027.

Eskom said it had issued an expression of interest regarding the same earlier. Its commercial and industrial customers showed strong demand for offtake of power through long-term PPAs.

Dan Marokane, Chief Executive at Eskom Group, said that the company plans to end loadshedding and pivot into sustainability and competitiveness while ensuring security of supply through a customer-centric approach.

Eskom is entirely owned by the South African government, with the Minister of Electricity and Energy serving as the shareholder representative.

It operates across the electricity value chain, providing generation, transmission, and distribution services within South Africa, and participates in electricity trading within the Southern African Development Community.

In June this year, South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy announced the preferred bidders to set up 616 MW/2,464 MWh Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) under the third bid window of the Independent Power Producer Procurement Program. The selected projects were Haru BESS by Scatec at the Leander substation (123 MW), Bloemhoek BESS by Mulilo at the Theseus substation (124 MW), Erfdeel BESS by Mulilo at the Everest substation (123 MW), Vanilla BESS by Mulilo at the Havard substation (123 MW), and Retreat BESS by Mulilo at the Merapi substation (123 MW).