The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy published its request for information in terms of its risk mitigation and power procurement programme on Friday afternoon.
A request for information (RFI) is a business process used to collect information in writing regarding the capabilities of available suppliers. The move falls under the department’s interventions announced earlier in the week, in response to the implementation of stage 6 and stage 4 load shedding.
In a statement, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said the request-for-information mechanism would empower government to seek out cost-effective and feasible energy alternatives, should energy risks occur in the short to medium term.
"The request for information is intended to analyse options to procure between 2000 – 3000 MWs of power generation capacity that can be grid connected in the shortest time at the least possible cost," the statement said.
It added that the department planned to launch the Risk Mitigation Power Purchase Programme to alleviate electricity supply constraints, as envisaged in the Integrated Resource Plan.
"This programme complements other initiatives by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to give effect to the IRP2019. The Department invites responses from the market on innovative potential solutions to deliver power generation to the grid as expeditiously as possible," the statement said.
The statement added that the department would accept input from existing projects, projects under development and new projects from all technologies which could be considered for procurement. Parties have until the end of January 2020 to make inputs.