Cape Town – Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the recent agreements with Chinese state-owned entities and a donation from China are aimed at addressing the country’s energy emergency.
South Africa concluded a significant amount of agreements with Chinese state owned entities (SOEs) with the signing of two overarching memoranda that were witnessed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Xi Jinping.
These agreements were signed during the 15th Brics Summit.
Addressing the media on the Energy Action Plan on Sunday, Ramokgopa said that the two agreements include amongst others, addressing issues of green energy solutions, exploitations of renewable energy sources and the use of modern technology.
“The two agreements – the first one addresses issues around green energy solutions- the partnership agreement we will be entering in relation to the exploitation of renewable energy sources in our country; the use of modern technology and the degree to which we are able to connect renewable energy onto the grid.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says they signed an agreement with China because of the big role the country plays in the energy space. #eNCA #DStv403 #AllAngles #QuestionThinkAct pic.twitter.com/hKYfjrlluk
— eNCA (@eNCA) August 27, 2023
“The rationale for entering with the Chinese in this regard is because they are a dominant player on the renewable energy space. They have 688 gigawatts of installed capacity of renewables, a combination of PV and wind. They have done one of the biggest expansions of transmission and they have also worked on the kind of transmission modernisation required to be able to accommodate the intermittency of renewable sources,” the Minister said.
The donation from China will support emergency energy needs in public facilities like police stations, health institutions, and correctional centers.
The first shipment of technology solutions is en route, with further details to be announced upon arrival.
The minister expressed confidence in the stabilisation of the energy system, leading to lower stages of load shedding as recovery progresses.
Updating on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan at the weekly media briefing, GCIS – Pretoria.#LeaveNoOneBehind🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/hzmAU09lWv
— Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa (@Kgosientsho_R) August 27, 2023
On load shedding, Ramokgopa said government was confident the system was stabilising and the country will continue to have lower stages of load shedding as the system recovers.
“On the issue of performance, we are more that satisfied. We have shown where we moved from a historic low of 48% of energy availability factor. We have been averaging 60% energy availability factor.
“When we went to the winter period, the worst case scenario was Stage 8. We only had 30 hours of Stage 6. You can see the intensity of load shedding is coming down. The issues of outage slips, I have shown to you, they have come down from a high of 3 300 megawatts to 766 megawatts,” the Minister said.
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Picture: Twitter/@Kgosientsho
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
