KZN Midlands site of Eskom’s first battery energy storage project

“The beginning of the construction of the Elandskop BESS is a positive development in our efforts to alleviate the pressure on the national electricity grid,” said André de Ruyter, Eskom Group Chief Executive, speaking at the event. “This is a direct response to the urgent need to address South Africa’s long-running electricity crisis by adding more generation capacity, to the grid, and also to strengthen the grid by adding more storage and transforming capacity.”
Phase 2 of the project includes the installation of a further 144MW of storage capacity, equivalent to 616MWh at four Eskom Distribution sites and one Transmission site. The solar PV capacity in this phase will be 58MW.

The BESS project will utilise large scale utility batteries with the capacity of 1 440MWh per day and a 60MW PV capacity. It will be one of the largest BESS projects to be developed and implemented in South Africa.

“Eskom has identified distributed storage as an alternative to support renewable energy expansion in South Africa and we have taken the necessary steps to ensure the successful implementation of the BESS project,” said Velaphi Ntuli, Eskom’s General Manager: Distribution, Operations Enablement.

All Phase 1 sites are planned to be commissioned by 30 June 2023 and Phase 2 by December 2024.

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