Battery storage systems changing energy procurement in Africa

More utility and business customers are choosing to include battery storage with solar projects because it makes economic sense

The business case for using battery energy storage technology has changed dramatically in the last two years. According to the IEA, China currently produces more than three-quarters of batteries sold globally. In 2024 average prices dropped faster there than anywhere else in the world, falling by nearly 30%.

Speaking at Solar Storage Live Cape Town, Nicola Cencelli, JUWI Head of Business Development, explained that pricing and the economics of battery systems has decreased dramatically for African business as well, similar to the trend witnessed in the solar sector a decade ago.

“It’s a dramatic improvement and it’s made a lot of our customers quite optimistic,” said Cencelli. In the utility space they now see customers include batteries alongside solar requirements, as an economic advantage and not just a technological solution.

Cencelli made reference to a recent energy project in Egypt for an off-grid mine, which incorporated solar, battery storage and diesel back-up, dramatically decreasing the mine’s fuel costs.

They are also seeing an increase in requests for proposals around battery storage behind-the-meter, proving that the business case now exists.

Battery energy storage on utility scale in SA

 Crescent Mushwana, head of technical at the IPP Office, pointed out that while South Africa has started running a battery energy storage IPP procurement programme, batteries were also integral to the eventual projects procured under the risk mitigation IPP procurement programme (RMIPPPP).

“The RMIPPPP was an out-comes based programme based around System Operator requirements in terms of performance of plant,” he explained.

So far 3 of the proposed projects have started construction work, to cumulatively produce 150MW of power from a mix of solar and wind power with battery backup and a diesel generator proposed for one of the hybrid systems.

The three solar plus storage projects (540MWp solar plus 1,140MWh) that make up the Kenhardt project in the Northern Cape, went operational at the end of December. And a seventh battery project under the RMIPPPP has not yet started construction.

“Though there’s a BESS programme at national level, the power system looks at all the other technologies, so there is a requirement for BESS as well. I would say it’s been succesful. Going forward there’s case to be made to look at more of these technologies,” said Mushwana.

Storage in Cape Town

Trevor Govender, Head of project development and project management in generation development and municipal energy efficiency at the City of Cape Town (CoCT), said their vision is of energy security for prosperous city. For CoCT, harnessing renewable energy and hybrid systems is key to alleviating energy poverty and optimising energy use in the system.

“What these systems afford us, hybrid system, is that it mitigates intermittency of PV solar through the ability to store solar power and dispatch the solar power during periods of peak demand or low generation, from the batteries. And by doing this we reduce the cost of the power used and it speaks directly to carbon neutrality through using renewables in the mix,” explained Govender.

The city’s renewable energy roadmap is still in its infancy, but already plans are afoot around feasibility studies for hybrid systems. The city’s pilot solar plant in Atlantis is aiming for commercial operation in the first quarter of 2026, and plans are afoot to increase the plant from 7MW to 10MW, alongside the implementation of a 5MW BESS system.

“In the pipeline we are looking at a 70MW power plant in Paardevlei which we are close to finalising in terms of the feasibility and conceptual designs, to develop the procurement strategy as well as the financing. We want that to roll out in the next two years.

“We also have the opportunity to build BESS power into that system,” said Govender.

City of Cape Town is working on a BESS roadmap and how to optimise installation by placing the projects at either substations or at source, depending on the use-case.

Govender said the City is close to finalising its first round of an IPP procurement programme which will concentrate on solar PV and is looking at an energy traders programme which would take its cue from the needs of the city’s demand profile.

The City is also investing how to use public-private partnerships (PPPs) for large-scale projects. These would be projects such as refurbishing the Steenbras pumped storage scheme, or new hydroelectricity schemes, if these are feasible for the region.

Going Forward

Mushwana reminded that grid access is a decided challenge to the viability of large-scale, REIPPPP-driven energy projects in South Africa at the moment.

“Going forward we want to make sure that the future rounds of procurement will be driven by system requirements. So, when it comes to solar we do see it increasing on the system, but it needs to be coupled with a whole lot of storage,” he said.

While the IPP Office has already run three rounds of energy storage auctions calling for 1,700MW of battery storage at site specific locations, Mushwana reminded that the current draft IRP2030 suggests that by 2034 the country needs to procure between 5 and 7GW of energy storage, to drive more solar procurement.

Though the draft is still under revision, Mushwana thinks the IPP Office will run the battery and solar procurement programmes separately, but the technologies are interdependent. “The effect will be the same, you can’t have one without the other,” said Mushwana. ESI

Cover photo:  ESI Africa.