- To unlock pledged foreign grant funding, the South African government has unveiled its Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) Funding Platform, which is designed to match funding with renewable energy projects under development.
- South Africa generates around 80% of its electricity from coal-fired power stations.
- Recently the government announced that they would allow five coal power stations to exceed minimum emissions standards. Read more
The larger JETP was announced at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 but it has been slow to roll out. The US$9.3 billion funding package from the European Union, Germany, France, the US and the UK (subsequently the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Switzerland and Denmark have also joined), has been criticised by factions within the South African government for failing to transition from coal power to renewables in a just manner. The grant funding portion has also been criticised. Read more
The new Funding Platform is designed to match local project developers with R600 million in allocated grant funding for 20 projects in 2025 and R1.5 billion for 50 projects in 2026.
Related news: South Africa’s Treasury DG says that JET Programme must include support for SOE’s and municipalities
Minister Patricia de Lille launched the new Funding Platform in Mpumalanga last week in her capacity as acting Electricity and Energy Minister. She explained that the platform is way to improve visibility of the pipeline of potential JET projects that could be supported by grant funders.
It also offers developers the opportunity to apply for grant funding to complete development works to make their projects shovel ready and visible to larger funding partners.
The matchmaking platform, which will be launched on 1st November 2024, is managed by the JET project management office in the Presidency. Projects developers will be able to apply for grant funding online.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
