Radebe pledges to consult widely on future of energy mix
Energy Minister Jeff Radebe undertook on Tuesday to consult business, labour and other stakeholders on the government plan for SA’s energy mix before it was put to the Cabinet again.
Releasing the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for comment ahead of its promulgation will give energy experts the opportunity to interrogate the assumptions made in energy supply and demand projections as well as the relative cost accorded to the different energy sources. These assumptions were a source of controversy when the draft plan was released. Criticism was that the proposed renewables were artificially capped to bolster the case for nuclear energy.
The plan will determine the energy mix for the next 20 years. Apart from the IRP, the Department of Energy is also working on the Integrated Energy Plan after both were sent back by the Cabinet for revision in December 2017.
Radebe said it was critical for the department to finalise the policies “soon” to provide policy certainty.
He told Parliament’s energy portfolio committee that the department would finalise its review of the IRP for submission to Cabinet by August.
There would be consulta- tions with stakeholders such as the National Economic Development and Labour Council and other government departments on the plan prior to its tabling in the Cabinet, said Radebe.
In the next 12 months, decisions would also be taken on SA’s petroleum refining capacity. While importing 20% of current demand was manageable, importing more than a third of this demand would be a threat to energy security, he said. This threat was made worse by SA’s distance from refining centres and its limited storage capacity for refined products.
Major international oil companies had lost interest in the downstream sector and their withdrawal from it would open up opportunities for local players to fill this gap.
Radebe said he would provide details in his budget vote speech in the National Assembly next week on measures to deal with the obstacles in the implementation of government policies. He was also working with the state-owned Central Energy Fund to address its leadership and governance challenges speedily in order to restore stability and restore public confidence in it.
On the sale of 10-million barrels of strategic stock by the fund, Radebe said the fund had filed a court application to have this disposal — which was not approved by the Treasury — declared invalid. That court process was due to start this week.
Radebe was optimistic that the Grand Inga hydropower project in the Democratic Republic of Congo would get off the ground soon. He told MPs the Congolese government had recently appointed two companies to start construction. The project was of strategic importance for the continent, he said.