President Cyril Ramaphosa says the energy sector remains the foremost priority for his administration while addressing the Fifth South Africa Investment Conference in Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg yesterday.
Ramaphosa said the conference affirms local and international investor confidence in the structural reforms the government has been driving to improve the business environment.
He said the Energy Action Plan presents a clear path to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding in the short term and achieve energy security in the long term, adding that he has been implementing wide-ranging reforms in the electricity sector to enable private investment in electricity generation and accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity from solar, wind, gas and battery storage.
“This reform, together with measures to streamline regulatory processes, has enabled a surge of new projects, with the pipeline of committed projects now representing over 10,000 MW of new capacity.
“Several municipalities are making use of regulatory changes to procure power independently.
“We have introduced tax incentives for households and businesses to invest in rooftop solar. We have called for financial institutions to support this effort through affordable funding for households and small and medium enterprises. The government will assist poor households through a number of programmes,” he said.
“Through our renewable energy programme, we have signed agreements for approximately 2,800 MW from bid windows 5 and 6, with several large projects already in construction and others on track to reach financial close.
“We recently released a request for proposals for over 500 MW of battery storage, and will soon open further bid windows for wind and solar, battery storage and gas power.”
Ramaphosa said Cabinet has approved the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, which will soon be tabled in Parliament, to establish a competitive market for electricity generation.
“Though load shedding will remain a challenge in the immediate future, its severity will begin to ease as some of the more targeted initiatives recently announced begin to take effect.
“What we are witnessing in the energy sector is an undeniable surge of investment that will not only address the electricity supply shortfall in years to come, but will propel growth and create jobs.
“Even as we work to improve the performance of our existing coal-fired power stations to address load shedding, we remain committed to a just energy transition and our target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.”
He also said the heavily criticised Just Energy Transition Investment Plan will be implemented which outlines investment needs to support a just and inclusive transition towards cleaner forms of energy.
“We will soon be completing the review of the Integrated Resource Plan to lay the foundation for a fundamentally transformed energy landscape that transitions us along a low-carbon, climate resilient developmental path.
“We will undertake this Just Energy Transition at a pace our country can afford and in a manner that advances our developmental objectives and ensures energy security. In the long run, investment in green energy will be a huge boost to economic growth.”
The Just Energy Transition Investment Plan is funded by France, Germany, the US, UK and the European Union at a region of $8.5 billion loan. This plan to cleaner sources of power has been criticized by trade unions in the past who have accused Ramaphosa of planning to shed jobs in the coal industry.
Rampahosa also turned his focus to the damaged railway infrastructure saying the government is equally focused on addressing the crisis in the logistics sector.
“Transnet’s railway and port constraints are significantly affecting the mining, agriculture, forestry, automotive and manufacturing sectors. We are prioritising port and rail efficiencies as part of the structural reform process/
“Significantly, we have agreed with key stakeholders to establish a National Logistics Crisis Committee to drive the implementation of a comprehensive roadmap for the freight logistics sector.”
