IPP programme aims to de-risk energy generation - Ramokgopa
Minister of Energy and Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa on Monday stressed the importance of private sector involvement in meeting South Africa’s energy needs.
On Monday morning, Ramokgopa briefed the media on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) Programme.
He said the Independent Power Producer Programme will fully utilise renewable energy to ensure supply and lower electricity costs. The ministry aims to de-risk energy generation and promote multiple electricity generators across the country.
"We're going to de-risk energy generation, just from a monopoly that is Eskom, and then we're able to have multiple generators of electricity in the country.
"We've seen what are the downsides of a monopoly, so when a monopoly fails, it drags the entire country with it, we've seen the challenges Eskom is overexposed as a country.
"Eskom has significant generation capacity, 100%, of course, it has come down about 90% of total generation coming from Eskom. If Eskom fails, then it means that the electricity generation fails.
"It's important that we're able to reform, introduce other players, and we're able to de-risk, and that's the direction that they were taking."
Ramokgopa says that over 8,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects are currently either in operation or under construction.
Many of them are situated in the Cape provinces.
"In KwaZulu-Natal, there hasn’t been any renewable energy project. So, it’s important that there has be alignment of where the capacity is and the resource to ensure that we are able to accelerate this procurement programme,” the minister said.
"If you look at what the UCLF recorded over the past seven days, you'll see that we've been averaging at about 10,500 megawatts.
"Essentially, we're saying 10,500 megawatts of capacity that is installed was not available on account of various reasons, say units failing and units not performing at their optimal capacity. If you were to compare this with the same period last year, it's an improvement of about 5,000 megawatts.
"So, that's significant from where we've started, and that's why we've been able to keep the lights on for a considerable period of time."
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