PRETORIA, 28 October 2026 — South Africa’s Department of Electricity and Energy has postponed the ministerial briefing on the first gas-to-power procurement bid window that was scheduled for this morning. Its notice says a replacement date will be communicated later.
The postponement concerns a media engagement, rather than an announced cancellation of the Gas Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, or GASIPPPP. Existing records show bids were received in May. The outstanding questions concern selection, financing, fuel supply, grid access and the timetable for electricity delivery.
What changed in South Africa’s gas-to-power programme? The department postponed the 28 October ministerial briefing and said it would announce a new date. The notice does not cancel Bid Window 1. Four bids appear on the official May submission list, but receipt of a bid does not establish a contract, financing or an operating power station.
What was postponed
The department’s original advisory scheduled Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s briefing for 09:00 on 28 October at GCIS Tshedimosetso House in Pretoria. It was intended to provide an update on the programme and the government’s approach to gas-fired electricity generation.
The subsequent official postponement notice moves that engagement to a later date without specifying a replacement. It does not announce preferred bidders, a revised bid-submission deadline or a construction start.
Green Building Africa’s 28 October report also records the postponement. The operational significance will depend on the substantive procurement update that follows, rather than the change in briefing date alone.
Four submitted projects are on the official list
The official Bid Window 1 list records four bids received on 29 May 2026 under tender DMRE/015/2023/24.
The listed capacities total 2,830 MW. That is an arithmetic sum of submissions, not an award total or electricity already added to the grid. Although the document’s column uses the label “contracted capacity”, its title identifies it as a list of bids received. It should not be read as a contract-award notice.
OIL AND GAS
South Africa Gas-to-Power: Bids, Timetable and Delivery
Oct 28, 2026
Oct 28, 2026
6 min read
Published
Updated:
PRETORIA, 28 October 2026 — South Africa’s Department of Electricity and Energy has postponed the ministerial briefing on the first gas-to-power procurement bid window that was scheduled for this morning. Its notice says a replacement date will be communicated later.
The postponement concerns a media engagement, rather than an announced cancellation of the Gas Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, or GASIPPPP. Existing records show bids were received in May. The outstanding questions concern selection, financing, fuel supply, grid access and the timetable for electricity delivery.
What changed in South Africa’s gas-to-power programme? The department postponed the 28 October ministerial briefing and said it would announce a new date. The notice does not cancel Bid Window 1. Four bids appear on the official May submission list, but receipt of a bid does not establish a contract, financing or an operating power station.
What was postponed
The department’s original advisory scheduled Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s briefing for 09:00 on 28 October at GCIS Tshedimosetso House in Pretoria. It was intended to provide an update on the programme and the government’s approach to gas-fired electricity generation.
The subsequent official postponement notice moves that engagement to a later date without specifying a replacement. It does not announce preferred bidders, a revised bid-submission deadline or a construction start.
Green Building Africa’s 28 October report also records the postponement. The operational significance will depend on the substantive procurement update that follows, rather than the change in briefing date alone.
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Four submitted projects are on the official list
The official Bid Window 1 list records four bids received on 29 May 2026 under tender DMRE/015/2023/24.
Submitted project | Capacity listed in bid record | Fuel technology | Province |
Khanyazwe Flexpower | 440 MW | Liquefied natural gas | Mpumalanga |
Pictor GTP Consortium | 990 MW | Liquefied natural gas | KwaZulu-Natal |
Kelvin Redevelopment | 600 MW | Natural gas | Gauteng |
Komatipoort Power | 800 MW | Natural gas | Mpumalanga |
The listed capacities total 2,830 MW. That is an arithmetic sum of submissions, not an award total or electricity already added to the grid. Although the document’s column uses the label “contracted capacity”, its title identifies it as a list of bids received. It should not be read as a contract-award notice.
The IPP programme overview describes the first window as seeking 2,000 MW of land-based gas-fired generation. The capacity offered through bids and the capacity ultimately selected are different quantities.
The published milestone sequence has several stages
A March 2026 reminder notice confirms the revised 29 May submission date. It set an anticipated preferred-bidder announcement approximately three months afterwards, followed by further commercial and financing milestones.
That estimate is a historical procurement target. Its passage does not itself prove that preferred bidders were appointed. A separate dated decision is needed to establish an award.
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The notice envisaged commercial close approximately 12 months after preferred-bidder announcement, a financial-close long-stop three months after commercial close, and scheduled commercial operation no later than 36 months after commercial close.
These are relative milestones in the procurement document, rather than confirmed calendar dates for an individual plant.
This distinction is useful for businesses assessing opportunities and communities expecting supply. Selection, signed agreements, financing and commissioning each require their own evidence. A plant cannot be assumed to be generating simply because an earlier bidding deadline has passed.
The proposed 5,000 MW allocation is a separate figure
In its 7 October policy statement, the department described a proposed approach prioritising 5,000 MW of gas-to-power and 4,600 MW of battery storage under the first Section 34 determination associated with IRP 2025.
Those planning figures should not be substituted for the existing 2,000 MW first-window scope, or added to submitted bids as though they were separate completed projects. A reconciled procurement schedule is needed to establish how particular allocations and bid windows relate.
SAnews’ account of the policy announcement describes the intended roles: batteries would store electricity for later use, while gas generation would provide dispatchable supply when renewable output falls or demand rises. These are different functions, even when procured within a coordinated electricity strategy.
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Fuel and financing determine whether a plant can deliver
The department says fuel availability, delivered gas prices, port and pipeline infrastructure, grid connections and commissioning schedules must be assessed together. A generation allocation alone does not secure those components.
For each project, the practical questions are who supplies the fuel, what infrastructure is required, how supply interruptions are managed and what price risks fall on the generator or electricity buyer. Financing also depends on the eventual contractual obligations and the project’s expected operating pattern.
No single total investment cost, financing package or electricity tariff for the four submitted projects is established by the bid-receipt list. Nor does it establish jobs already created. Those figures require project-specific disclosures.
Households and industrial customers will judge delivery through dependable electricity and its cost. The next useful announcement is therefore a documented procurement decision with conditions, followed by clear commercial, financing and construction milestones. Rescheduling the briefing can restore an opportunity to explain that sequence; it does not replace the sequence itself.
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