The Department of Energy (DoE) has delayed the announcement of the second crop of preferred bidders for the renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) programme to May 21.

The announcement for the second bid window, which closed on March 5 and for which 79 bids were received, was initially scheduled for May 14.

In a statement, the DoE indicated the change had been made, owing to the fact that Energy Minister Dipuo Peters was also due to make her Budget vote address to lawmakers during the same week.

It said “given the importance” of the speech, which is scheduled for 16:45 on Thursday May 17, “it would be fitting” for the IPP announcement to be deferred.

The DoE confirmed that the evaluation process had been concluded and that there had been a “notable improvement in the quality of bids when comparisons are made with window 1”.