- South Africa’s energy minister spoke at the State of the Nation (SONA) debate this week in parliament.
On the presidents announcement of the appointment of a Minister of Electricity in his office to focus on this crisis, Mantashe asked what this appointment means? “We characterised it as a project management approach in dealing with a crisis,” he said
“Some people in the media say, “when we characterise it as project management, we are reducing this Ministry and its authority”. I think something called school will help them understand that project management is not reductionist. It emphasises urgency of execution and delivery. In project management, one will have clear timeframes, milestones, and a critical path which we must not deviate from. We don’t have the luxury of waiting for the 24 months to resolve loadshedding. If we derail from the identified critical path, we will derail the whole project. That is how serious the President takes this crisis,” said Mantashe.
Posibly the only positive news is his announcement that his ministry will issue request for proposal (RFP) consisting of:
- 513 MW of battery storage by the end of February 2023
- 3000 MW of gas to power by the end of the current financial year
- Bid Window 7 of up to 5 000 MW subject to grid capacity availability
Link to Mantashe’s full speech HERE
