The government and private sector are working closely together to accelerate new investments in renewable energy projects under 100MW to bring an end to Eskom’s monopoly and load-shedding.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, writing in his weekly newsletter headlined ‘There is light at the end of the load-shedding tunnel’, said a joint task team comprising all relevant government departments and the private sector was working to “accelerate investments” in new generation projects under 100MW.
“There is a pipeline of 58 projects under development with a combined capacity of 4500MW, many of which will commence construction this year. The task team is working to speed up environmental authorisation and other approvals,” Ramaphosa said.
“South Africa’s energy security can only be assured if we reduce reliance on a single utility for power and unlock private investment in generation capacity.”
Reducing dependency on the parastatal was one of the “most important reforms” contained in the draft Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill that had been gazetted for public comment in February, he added.
The Bill provides for the establishment of an independent transmission and system operator.
“This means that while the national grid will remain owned and controlled by the state, there will be competition among multiple generators selling power to distributors and customers. The introduction of a competitive electricity market will unleash new investment in generation capacity and will be a key driver of economic growth,” he said.
The reform process has already started with the establishment of a separate transmission subsidiary by Eskom in December 2021, and with the unbundling of Eskom on track to be completed by December.
“Eskom is forging ahead with its maintenance programme and with correcting design defects in its plants at Medupi and Kusile. It is also decommissioning old power stations that have reached the end of their design life and repurposing others to use cleaner energy sources,” Ramaphosa added.
The power utility is also bringing in additional skills to assist with maintenance, including former employees and experienced plant managers.
“It is difficult to expect the millions of South Africans grappling with the inconvenience and hardship caused by intermittent power outages to remain patient as we resolve these long-standing challenges. It is difficult to convince them, as they sit in the dark, that we are making progress towards a secure and reliable supply of electricity.”
However, he added that the reality was that the energy landscape was being transformed and problems at Eskom were “steadily being addressed and substantial new energy generation capacity is being built.
“It is difficult and unacceptable for South Africans to endure load-shedding. But we are doing everything in our means to ensure that, like state capture, it soon becomes a thing of the past,” Ramaphosa said.
