President Ramaphosa’s speech this week included momentous plans for brand new photo voltaic and battery procurement in addition to efforts to chop licensing and allowing delays as nationwide utility Eskom scrambles to cut back the size of black-outs.
The coverage package deal introduced by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa this week, to deal with in depth grid black-outs, included a pledge to double the size of the following spherical of the nation’s Renewable Vitality Impartial Energy Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP).
With the earlier spherical having commissioned 2.6 GW of photo voltaic and wind energy technology capability, Ramaphosa advised the nation this week: “The quantity of recent technology capability procured by means of bid window six for wind and solar energy might be doubled from 2,600 MW to five,200 MW.”
The sixth bid window was beforehand concentrating on 1 GW of photo voltaic and 1.6 GW of wind capability and it was not clear whether or not the doubling in scale could be carried out on a professional rata foundation.
Licensing requirement
The pinnacle of state additionally introduced plans to completely take away the requirement for distributed-generation photo voltaic and wind vegetation to be licensed.
South Africa in 2021 modified the brink at which grid-connected clear power initiatives would require a license, elevating it from 1 MW to 100 MW.
Massive success
Ramaphosa stated that transfer “unlocked a pipeline of greater than 80 confirmed non-public sector initiatives with a mixed capability of over 6,000 MW” and, because of that success, dedicated to “take away the licensing threshold for embedded technology utterly.”
No date was given for the introduction of license-free clear power improvement, nevertheless, and Ramaphosa careworn new installations would nonetheless have to satisfy technical necessities for grid connection and to fulfill environmental requirements.
A request for proposals might be issued in September, the top of state stated, with the purpose of procuring an unspecified quantity of battery storage capability.
The president stated deeply indebted nationwide utility Eskom had just lately made out there sufficient land close to its energy stations in Mpumalanga province to host 1.8 GW of recent clear energy technology capability and introduced additional emergency strikes by the electrical firm to safe extra energy.
“As a direct measure, surplus capability might be purchased from current impartial energy producers,” stated Ramaphosa. “These are energy vegetation which constructed extra capability than was required and may now provide this extra energy to Eskom. As a part of addressing the scarcity of megawatts, Eskom will now additionally buy extra power from current non-public turbines resembling mines, paper mills, buying facilities and different non-public entities which have surplus energy.”
Slash pink tape
Guarantees to cut back paperwork and easy allowing procedures inevitably draw a skeptical response from trade however the head of presidency stated: “We’ll … be tabling particular laws in parliament on an expedited foundation to handle the authorized and regulatory obstacles to new technology capability for a restricted interval … We’ll, within the meantime, waive or streamline sure regulatory necessities the place it’s doable to take action inside current laws. This contains decreasing the regulatory necessities for photo voltaic initiatives in areas of low and medium environmental sensitivity.”
A extra concrete pledge associated to the domestically-made part necessities which apply to photo voltaic farms procured below the most recent spherical of the REIPPPP.
‘Pragmatic strategy’
Ramaphosa stated the federal government would take “a practical strategy to the native content material necessities for these initiatives, prioritizing the necessity to construct new capability as rapidly as doable.”
The president stated Eskom is on monitor to separate its electrical energy technology and distribution companies into separate models this yr, having already hived off its transmission operations right into a separate entity.
Ramaphosa additionally stated the treasury is engaged on a plan to ease the troubled utility’s near-ZAR 400 billion ($23.7 billion) money owed.
