South Africa hunts a partner for a giant battery made of water — 1.5 gigawatts, stored uphill

Eskom Green, the clean-energy arm of South Africa's power utility, has opened a competitive search for a partner to build the Tubatse Pumped Storage Scheme in Limpopo Province: a 1.5-gigawatt facility that stores energy by pumping water uphill and lets it flow back down through turbines when the grid needs it. With up to 21 gigawatt-hours of storage, it could run at full output for as long as 14 hours — long enough to carry solar and wind power through the night. It is a cornerstone of Eskom Green's plan to reach up to 6 gigawatts of clean capacity by 2030, and a sign that the country's grid is being rebuilt for a renewable era.

SDG 7 · Affordable and clean energy — Mechanism: institutional program