Eskom is, in effect, setting and refereeing the rules of a game in which it is also the largest player, with a direct commercial interest in the result.
South Africa's renewable energy independent power producers (IPPs) are facing a new and rapidly escalating financial risk - and it has nothing to do with the wind dropping or the sun going behind a cloud.
It is curtailment: instructions from Eskom's System Operator to dial back output that IPPs stand ready to deliver, and for which they are contractually entitled to be paid.
Developers, owners and investors in projects procured under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) report that curtailment has risen sharply in 2026. According to these sources, the volume of energy curtailed in the first six months of the year was roughly an order of magnitude higher than in the whole of 2025.
The financial consequences are material. Some IPPs report project revenues running about 9% below budget in 2026 - a shortfall they attribute both to the energy they were instructed not to generate and to the lengthening delays in being reimbursed by Eskom for it.
How curtailment is supposed to work
Under the "take-or-pay" power purchase agreements (PPAs) that underpin REIPPPP, Eskom is obliged to reimburse IPPs for the revenue lost when their output is curtailed. The principle is sound: a generator that...
