RENEWABLE ENERGY A MAJOR BENEFIT TO SA
Government has devised new policy to assure investors, minister tells delegates
ENERGY Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has backed South Africa’s use of renewable energy to boost the national grid, saying the government has created policy certainty to foreign investors through this plan.
Joemat-Pettersson told delegates and investors on the sidelines of South Africa’s International Renewable Energy Conference in Cape Town yesterday that the government would not back down on using renewables as part of the energy-mix programme.
She said the government took a decision five years ago to use renewables by also inviting independent power producers (IPPs).
The R129 billion that has been pumped in by the private sector in renewables did not involve the government.
“We are spearheading a pro- gramme which is difficult, which is tough, which is benchmarking what South Africa wants to do with independent power producers,” the minister said.
The constraint in electricity generation had led to the decision to look at alternative sources of energy, she said.
Joemat-Pettersson said it had been decided that the energy-mix programme would include renewable energy, hydro, coal, gas, nuclear and other sources.
President Jacob Zuma emphasised this point in his State of the Nation address in 2012. He said an energy mix was the government’s official policy as it believed multiple sources of energy would drive up growth.
The government has set a target of 5 percent economic growth by 2019.
But the economy has buck- led under pressure in recent months, recording negative growth in the second quarter.
The government was intent on growing the economy, and the use of alternative sources of energy, including renewable energy, was the way to go, said Joemat-Pettersson.
She said they did not have the luxury of time, and they wanted IPPs to take part in renewable energy projects.
Responding to some of the questions from investors, Joemat-Pettersson said the renewable energy programme was an ambitious project of the government.
The intention was to attract foreign direct investment. In attracting foreign direct investment policy certainty is one of the criteria,” she said.
She urged both local and foreign investors to dispel thoughts that everything in South Africa was corrupt.
She said the government was on top of its policy direction by creating the certainty demanded by foreign investors.
Joemat-Pettersson accepted a local businessman’s proposal for the government to update its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) regularly to be in line with current developments.
She said the government was using the IRP 2010 policy, and renewable energy was part of that plan.
Since 2010 the government had launched 92 projects in this regard.