Expansion of the Springbok Solar Power Plant near Virginia, Free State Province.

The primary rationale for the proposed inclusion to the authorised Solar Power Plant (SPP) is to
increase the proposed footprint of the facility to enable the authorised generation capacity of the SPP
and ultimately add new generation capacity from renewable energy to the national electricity mix and
to aid in achieving the goal of 42% share of all new installed generating capacity being derived from
renewable energy forms, as targeted by DMRE (Integrated Resource Plan Update 2010-2030). The IRP
also identifies the preferred generation technologies required to meet the expected demand growth
up to 2030 and incorporates government objectives including affordable electricity, reduced
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reduced water consumption, diversified electricity generation
sources and localisation and regional development. In terms of the Integrated Resource Plan Update
(2019 IRP Update, 2010-2030), over the short term (of the next two or three years), clear guidelines
arose; namely to continue with the current renewable bid programme with additional annual rounds
of 1000 MW PV, with approximately 8.4GW of the renewable energy capacity planned to be installed
from PV technologies over the next twenty years.