As SA races to strengthen its fragile electricity grid, a multibillion-rand renewable energy project in the Eastern Cape has cleared a major hurdle, with developers securing all regulatory approvals for a 2GW hybrid facility designed to deliver stable power while unlocking critical new transmission infrastructure.
Construction of Dimsum Energy’s EnergyFields project, which combines wind, solar and large-scale battery storage, is expected to begin near KwaNojoli (Somerset East) in early 2028.
Once complete, electricity will be sold directly to customers on the wholesale market.
Dimsum Energy chief executive Demetri Pappadopoulos described it as the largest hybrid energy project in SA.
He said it was designed for how the country’s electricity market was developing.
Utility-scale electricity from renewables was needed, and not just singular wind and singular solar, but a combination to provide stable electricity into the South African grid, he said.
“It’s made up of four wind farms; two large solar and a large battery, and we have expansion plans around that for another very large battery and further wind right next door.
“The site is fully permitted now, and we are in the Eskom cost estimate letter acceptance process.
“That is quite a process, because it involves putting up guarantees for grid construction,” Pappadopoulos said.
He said the project had been under development for nine years.
The project is expected to underpin the planned Poseidon South 400/132kV substation near Cookhouse, critical transmission infrastructure that developers say will unlock the Southern Transmission Corridor and create capacity for a new generation of renewable energy projects in the province.
Pappadopoulos said the new substation would expand the province’s transmission network by connecting to the existing Poseidon A substation, which already serves six wind farms near Bedford, including two previously developed by the company.
“What the project does is it unlocks the Poseidon South substation in the Eastern Cape.
“Poseidon South is located south of what they call Poseidon A substation, which connects six wind farms in Bedford, of which we’ve developed two of those wind farms in the past.
“With us connecting and building a hybrid project will unlock that substation and enable the expansion of further transmission and network in the Eastern Cape.
“So it’s a very strategically positioned project that will unlock and create room for further projects in the Eastern Cape.”
Pappadopoulos said their vision was to make electricity available to all South Africans.
He said Dimsum Energy was planning to pilot a peer-to-peer electricity trading platform in Nelson Mandela Bay, allowing households, businesses and other consumers to buy and sell electricity directly with one another through a virtual marketplace.
Pappadopoulos said the initiative, which the company hoped to unveil soon, would position the Bay at the forefront of electricity market innovation in SA.
He said the company viewed the pilot as part of a broader transformation of SA’s electricity market and stressed that collaboration, rather than confrontation, was key to achieving energy security.
“We’re not an organisation that criticises Eskom or government.
“We believe the narrative in SA has to change.
“The government, Eskom, independent power producers and the private sector all have a role to play in making electricity available to every South African and driving economic growth.
“Our interest is the South African consumer, and I think that’s a message we want to get across above everything else.
“Projects of this nature, this size, this scale are fundamentally important.
“They need the support of government and financial institutions, and we are engaging with all of them.”
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