Cape Town – The government is processing applications for various projects to produce almost 10 GW of renewable energy, says Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy.
The projects consist of 2 899 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity and 6 890 MW of wind energy facilities.
“As our country faces severe load shedding, I am happy to share with you today that in our Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) section there is a project pipeline of 9 789 megawatts for renewable energy applications,” Creecy said on Friday,” the minister said.
The applications also include battery energy storage systems and associated transmission and distribution infrastructure.
“We are working hard to cut the red tape and get these projects finalised and in this regard, we have reduced our decision-making timeframes from 107 days to 57 days,” she said.
Grid capacity has been identified as a major constraint in scaling up renewable energy, and the minister emphasised the need to address this issue to tackle both load shedding and the energy transition.
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“This is the view across the board with consensus from stakeholders, government, business, labour, and civil society. Grid capacity is a national priority to solve, not only for our transition needs but also for our short-term emergency to solve load shedding,” said the minister.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment is prioritising 15 applications related to transmission and distribution infrastructure.
At a briefing on Thursday, Eskom Acting CEO, Calib Cassim, announced that if a series of interventions to reduce power demands and improve reliability is unsuccessful this winter, load shedding could intensify to Stage 8.
Cassim said the State-owned entity is approaching the cold season with 3 000 MW less capacity compared to last year, due to units 1, 2 and 3 of Kusile Power Station and 1 unit of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station being currently offline.
“Honourable Members, in recent times, concern has been expressed that as we battle load shedding, we are considering delays in decommissioning ageing coal-fired power stations. Government is clear that we must battle both load shedding and climate change. It is not a one or the other decision,” said Creecy.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
