In order to ensure energy security, the government is concentrating on enhancing the efficiency of Eskom’s power plants and “adding as much new generation capacity to the grid as possible, as quickly as possible,” according to Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele.
He was speaking at a press conference given by a number of ministers whose offices are under the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM).
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the NECOM during a speech to the nation last Monday on interventions to address the country’s ongoing electricity shortage.
The NECOM is made up of Eskom and the relevant government departments.
The Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, and the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, make up the inter-ministerial committee that NECOM will report to.
The government, according to Gungubele at the briefing, is actively addressing energy-related issues.
The government is acting bravely to address the current crisis and put an end to load shedding.
Additionally, we are mobilising all of our resources and are prepared to take any necessary steps to achieve energy security.
“I must emphasise that achieving energy security is our nation’s top priority in order to promote economic expansion and job creation.
Our short-term goal is to stabilise the energy system as soon as possible and lessen the severity and frequency of load shedding.
Our long-term goal is to completely stop load shedding, Gungubele stated at the briefing on Monday.
The minister emphasised the actions already taken by the government to address energy shortages, including:
- Changes have been made to the Regulations on New Generation Capacity to allow Municipalities to procure power independently. As a result, several municipalities are in the process of procuring additional power.
- A revival of the renewable energy procurement programme which enabled 2205 MW from Bid Window 4 to proceed to construction, the majority of which has now been connected to the grid.
- A further 6800 MW of solar PV and wind power is being procured in terms of the current Ministerial determination. This additional generation capacity will connect to the grid from late 2023. Another 3000 MW of gas and 513 of battery storage will be procured through the next bid windows.
- In 2021, the licensing threshold for power generations increased from 1MW to 100MW which has resulted in a pipeline of more than 80 confirmed private sector projects under development with a combined capacity of over 6000 MW, several of which will commence construction this year.
- Eskom has established an independent transmission company and is on track to separate its generation and distribution businesses by the end of 2022.
“These are just a few examples of the interventions government has already put in place. However, we recognise that we need to be responsive to the situation as it develops. The severe load shedding which we experienced last month showed that additional actions are necessary to restore system stability and increase generation capacity,” Gungubele said.
These actions will be guided by the five interventions outlined by President Ramaphosa, which are to:
- Fix Eskom and improve the availability of existing supply
- Enable and accelerate private investment in generation capacity
- Accelerate procurement of new capacity from renewables, gas and battery storage
- Unleash businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar
- Fundamentally transform the electricity sector to achieve long-term energy security.
“The NECOM has already begun to meet regularly to ensure that these actions are implemented swiftly.
Eight work streams have been established to ensure coordination across government, and discussions are underway with the private sector and other social partners to ensure that the best available expertise in the country is brought into this effort.
“As the President said in his address to the nation: “The crisis that we are facing requires that we should take bold, courageous and decisive action to close the electricity gap. That is our overriding objective as government,” Gungubele said.