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Upcoming power purchase agreements will ease SA’s energy woes, says Mantashe
Renewable energy will finally be able to contribute significantly to the country's ailing national grid.
Thousands of megawatts are due to be pumped into the country’s grid over the next few months. Photo for illustration: iStock
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has confirmed power purchase agreements will be finalised over the next two months.
While participating in the debate on the State of the Nation (Sona) address on Tuesday, Mantashe said the agreements will address the country’s energy shortfalls.
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“Next month and in April, we will conclude the power purchase agreements for 2 000MW Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP),” Mantashe said.
Other power purchase agreements set to be concluded over the next two months include 2 600MW from the renewable energy bid window 5, for which preferred bidders were announced at the end of October last year.
Bid window 6 proposals, which will make up a further 2 600MW of renewable energy, will be requested at the end of March.
Additional bid windows will follow at six-month intervals.
Mantashe explained as per the country’s 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), gas is being used to support renewable energy being pumped into the national grid.
Keen on pushing a nuclear agenda a well, he said it was “comforting” that gas and nuclear was increasingly being used on a global scale in energy transition programmes.
“The European Union has labelled these technologies as part of the green transition.”
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Renewable energy projects good for economy
Mantashe said during the Solar Power Africa conference in Cape Town on Wednesday the country’s natural resources had the potential to accelerate the economy and set it on a low carbon economy path.
“With the natural resources we have for the development of the renewable industry, it is possible to generate the much-needed energy to kick start our economy and put South Africa on a just energy transition trajectory,” he said.
So far, the REIPPPP has generated more than 66 000 GWh of renewable energy, with the Independent Power Producers Programme creating 61 858 job opportunities – 37 673 were created through solar power projects alone.
“Africa possesses natural and mineral wealth capable of turning around country economies and the prospects of the continent. The inability to translate this potential resource into actualisation is hampered by lack of financial, technological, and human capabilities that are compounded by difficult global dynamics.
“We have, traditionally, relied on hydropower and coal.
Solar PV [photovoltaic], with recent substantial cost reductions, offers a rapid, cost-effective way to provide utility-scale electricity for the grid and modern energy services,” Mantashe said.
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