- Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, Minister of Electricity in The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa has gazetted a determination to procure 2500MW of new generation nuclear energy under the Electricity Regulation Act.
In December 2023, Ramokgopa said that the country needs additional generation capacity, and the Eskom fleet was ageing. “We are triggering a procurement process starting with a demand profile and gazetting. We are going out to get that additional 2 500MW of nuclear capacity to ensure energy security and sovereignty. Nuclear energy is the cheapest, safest and most reliable technology,” he said.
The nuclear procurement will be on an engineering procurement and construction (EPC) basis.
Link to the full gazetted determination HERE
Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) Executive Director Francesca de Gasparis says, “The announcement that the electricity minister will be procuring 2500MW new nuclear energy has been met with disbelief by civil society. All the independent modelling shows that nuclear energy is neither affordable nor needed in our energy mix now or in the future. We know electricity baseload does not need nuclear energy and in the absence of a finalised and fully reviewed IRP2023, today’s announcement by government seems to be motivated by greed, not need. During the question time this morning, queries about the true costs associated with nuclear energy were met with non-answers.
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Author: Bryan Groenendaal
