President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted a family meeting last night to outline his plan to address the energy crisis in South Africa.
Tshwane, South Africa (26 July 2022) – South Africans are rightfully fed-up with the electricity crisis in South Africa. We have been waiting patiently for the President to lay out his plan for working through the crisis and he has finally done so.
During a family meeting last night, he announced his five-point plan for addressing the crisis. At the start of the speech, he gave an overview of this and then went into great detail. This is what we learned.
“The set of additional actions I am announcing this evening:
Firstly, are aimed at improving the performance Eskom’s existing fleet of power stations;
Secondly, will accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity;
Thirdly, are intended to massively increase private investment in generation capacity;
Fourthly, are designed to enable businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar; and,
Finally, are directed at fundamentally transforming the electricity sector and positioning it for future sustainability.”
This action plan seems promising for those wanting to invest in private power options such as solar or purchasing power from local suppliers that are not linked to Eskom. This move means 80 confirmed private sector projects, with a combined capacity of over 6,000 MW, will be able to contribute to the grid.
“We have started to diversify generation by allowing parties other than Eskom to generate electricity.
In June last year, we raised the licensing threshold for new embedded generation projects from 1 MW to 100 MW.
This removed the licensing requirement for generation projects up to 100 MW that are connected to the grid.
This measure enabled these generators to have the ability to sell electricity to one or more customers, such as factories, mines or data centres.
We also changed the regulations to allow municipalities to procure power independently.
A number of municipalities are already in the process of doing so.”
In a bid to enable private investment in electricity generation, at a much higher level, the government plans to remove the licensing threshold for embedded generation completely.
“While they will not require licences, all new generation projects will still have to register with the regulator and comply with the technical requirements for grid connection and our environmental legislation.”
For businesses and homes that have excess power thanks to solar installations, they will have the opportunity to sell the excess power back to Eskom.
“To incentivise greater uptake of rooftop solar, Eskom will develop rules and a pricing structure – known as a feed-in tariff – for all commercial and residential installations on its network.
This means that those who can and have installed solar panels in their homes or businesses will be able to sell surplus power they don’t need to Eskom.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa strongly belives there is hope and a way through this crisis. To make sure his plan is implemented efficiently, he set up a National Energy Crisis Committee to lead the way.
“Fellow South Africans,
The measures I have outlined are not just to address our immediate constraints.
Our ultimate objective is to achieve long-term energy security, so that we never have to experience an electricity shortage again.
We aim to do this by stabilising Eskom and improving plant performance, establishing a competitive electricity market, opening the way for private investment in new generation capacity and increasing our investment in renewables.”
“If we work together, if we hold each other to account, if we meet our deadlines and fulfil our commitments, we will end the energy crisis and create the conditions for growth and job creation.
More than that, we will show that we are up to the challenge of rebuilding our beloved country.
I thank you.”
If you missed the speech, you can find the full one here.
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