Petition to fast-track renewable energy

WWF South Africa has launched a petition to urge Eskom to expedite the use of renewable energy and appealed to the parastatal to release the brake on renewable energy in the country.

The petition will be delivered to Eskom to coincide with the annual Earth Hour campaign on March 25.

The global event encourages people to switch off their lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, as a symbolic gesture marking the environmental challenges facing the planet.

WWFSA said that since last year Eskom was refusing to sign further contracts under the renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme, which would put more renewable energy on the grid, and was instead pursuing a programme that relied heavily on coal, as well as promoting an expensive and environmentally questionable nuclear build.

WWF South Africa chief executive Morné du Plessis said: “In order to avoid the extreme impacts of runaway climate change, we need to reduce our carbon emissions urgently by introducing more renewable energy into the energy mix. Yet, the bulk of South Africa’s carbon emissions come from electricity generated by fossil fuels such as coal and oil. This has to change.

“We know that Eskom has the power to unblock this hold-up and thus enable all the socio-economic and environmental benefits that will result from the renewable energy programme. By signing this petition, South Africans will be calling on the utility to exercise this power for the greater good of all,” Du Plessis said.

Eskom says that as of January it has connected 62 projects as part of the renewable energy independent power producer and Peaker programmes. The 62 projects have cumulatively added 4 200MW of generation capacity to the grid. A further 620MW is expected to be added in the 2017/2018 financial year as the third bid window of renewable energy independent power producer projects are integrated to the national grid.

Eskom says it intends to sign budget quotations and power purchase agreements.

This commitment will take into consideration the scale and pace of the roll-out of independent power producer procurement programmes, the long-term financial sustainability of Eskom and the value for money criteria in regard to whether the customer base can afford the independent power producer tariffs and their projected trajectory.

Eskom says the uncertainty on the cost recovery mechanism for independent power producers energy costs remains a key concern to be clarified.

It says it will continue to participate in the Earth Hour campaign. Last year South Africa saved 515MW during Earth Hour.

The petition can be found at www.wwf.org.za/earthhour