Trade, Industry and Competition Minister, Ebrahim Patel will launch the Energy One Stop Shop and Energy Resilience Fund on Thursday, 27 July.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa tasked Invest South Africa to establish an Energy One Stop Shop to fast-track applications from energy developers as part of the National Energy Crisis Committee’s Energy Mitigation Strategy.
The Energy One Stop Shop is expected to streamline the regulatory processes required for private investment in electricity generation, facilitate pre-investment screening for all energy projects and fast-track the approval of energy applications.
“This is to be achieved through timely intervention on blockages and red tape and consequently reduce both the time and cost of getting energy projects onto the grid,” the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) said in a statement.
The dtic said the requirement for predictable energy availability had led it to formulating a series of interventions, including alternative energy generation solutions, and storage and efficiency measures to support businesses to become energy resilient.
This led to establishing a R1.3 billion Energy Resilience Scheme that will be deployed through the dtic, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the National Empowerment Fund (NEF).
The scheme comprises targeted funding solutions for businesses affected by load shedding, including those operating in the townships and rural areas, and to support the localisation of inputs.
The department said it had availed R240 million to be administered by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) under the Manufacturing Competitiveness Enhancement Programme’s Energy Resilience Fund to support companies through interest-free loans, while R150 million will be dispersed in partnership with the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) to support businesses operating in townships. – SAnews.gov.za
