Integrated Resource Plan goes back to Cabinet

The Integrated Resource Plan, which was approved by the Cabinet in December, has been sent back to Cabinet for reprocessing, Energy Minister Jeff Radebe confirmed on Thursday.

He would not disclose the reasons why it would be reconsidered by the Cabinet, except to note he had received a lot of representations from stakeholders.

The Integrated Resource Plan approved by the Cabinet has never been gazetted, despite undertakings by former energy minister David Mahlobo that it would be released.

Radebe said in an interview that he would make an announcement in a few weeks on the reasons why the plan had to be reprocessed.

The Integrated Resource Plan sets out projections on demand and the cost of technologies to arrive at an optimal energy mix over a 20-year period. Crucially, it will determine whether SA should build nuclear energy capacity, how much it would spend and by when.

In terms of the draft plan released in November 2016 for public comment, there would be no need for nuclear energy until 2037. This was in stark contrast with the previous 2010 plan, which said that it would be needed by 2022. There were fears that this outcome of the draft plan had been reconfigured in the final plan in order to fasttrack the nuclear ambitions of former president Jacob Zuma.

A panel of experts said the draft Integrated Resource Plan did not recommend the lowestcost option for the generation of electricity in the long term. A lowest-cost option, they said, would not include nuclear.

DA spokesman on energy Gavin Davis said the reconsideration of the plan by the Cabinet “is the clearest indication yet that President Cyril Ramaphosa may reject former president Jacob Zuma’s planned nuclear build programme”.