- South Africa is determined to be “ultra-aggressive” in onboarding renewable energy sources.
- This is according to Electricity and Energy Minister, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
- The Minister was speaking on Monday during the Ministerial Renewable Energy Seminar held in Midrand, under the theme: “Advancing Renewable Energy: A Comprehensive Review of the IPP Procurement Process”.
- Rounds 5 to 6 in the country’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPPP) are largely seen as failures due to poor management, extended deadlines, and incompetence on the part of the IPP Office when vetting projects. Read more
- Ramokgopa now takes over the mandate from Gwede Mantashe.
Ramokgopa told the gathering that it is in the “collective interest” to accelerate the renewable energy programme. “We must be ultra-aggressive in the onboarding of renewables. We must resolve the issues of permitting and licensing, and the speed because capital has got choices,” said Ramokgopa
Grid constraints is also a major challenge where the public and private sector competing for limited capacity. Independent power producer (IPP) projects participating in the country’s REIPPPP and private sector IPP projects participating in distributed generation which includes wheeling are currently competing for limited grid capacity in South Africa. The state owned energy utility, Eskom, recently announced that they will also be competing for grid space in a drive to decarbonised its fleet with more than 2000MW of renewables. Read more
Transmission crisis
The country’s newly formed National Transmission Company (NTCSA) needs to add more than 1500 km of new transmission lines annually over the next ten years. This is to ensure transmission capacity to accommodate more than 50 GW of new generation power which will mainly come from intermittent renewable energy (wind and solar projects).
Currently, Eskom’s transmission division is adding 300 km of new power lines annually. In the last ten years, only 4 347 km of new powerlines were added.
Another challenge is transformer capacity. More than 122 600 MVA transformation capacity would have to be added, representing 77% of Eskom’s current installed base of just over 160 000 MVA. In the last ten years, only 19 060 MVA has been added to the grid infrastructure.
Aggresive in onboarding renewables
“We are going to be a bit more aggressive in onboarding renewables, but I think that statement is hollow if we are not able to address the attendant challenges, the inherent weaknesses in the system. We must build confidence in the system going into the future, firstly, by illustrating our ability to resolve the challenges that have afflicted the previous bid windows,” said Ramokgopa.
The Minister said his department wants to gather as much information as possible to improve on South Africa’s Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (IPPPP).
“We are here to listen on how best we can improve. Once we have listened… we will action. We really want industry to thrive for us to make South Africa the preferred destination for this capital [and]for us to run the most ambitious and successful of all renewable programmes from a public procurement point of view.
“[We want] the best one, not just on the continent, not just in the Global South but something that is of envy across the globe,” he concluded.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
