Cape Town - South Africa’s energy mix will be shaped by inputs at the SA International Renewable Energy Conference (SAIREC) in the city this week, Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson said on Monday.
This was why the updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) had not been finalised before the conference, as doing so would have reduced it to a “talk shop” with no influence on the country’s energy planning, she said shortly after delivering the opening address at the conference.
Joemat-Pettersson told delegates she hoped renewables would take the largest share in the country’s future energy mix, announcing as a legacy for the conference a new ministerial determination – the allocations to generation sources she makes on the basis of energy planning – of 1 500MW for a solar park in the Northern Cape.
This excludes the 8 400MW of solar power already included in energy plans up to 2030, bringing the total to 9 900MW – more than the total of 9 600MW currently allocated to nuclear.
She would not be drawn on why the country was pursuing a nuclear-build programme when global costs for renewables were declining, saying only that developing countries like South Africa could not be compared to developed nations like Germany, which had turned its back on nuclear.
However, her commitment to include inputs from the conference in the country’s energy master plan and the 2015/16 IRP – due early next year – leaves the door open for a greater role for renewables and a possible scaling down of South Africa’s nuclear ambitions.
At a conference on gas options for South Africa last week, she indicated she was open to a bigger role for gas than the current determination of 3 126MW.
Joemat-Pettersson had recently suggested there was no firm commitment to 9 600MW for nuclear.
The government had been criticised for basing the decision to procure nuclear power on the outdated IRP 2010, as economic growth had fallen way short of forecasts used in that model, while costs of alternative energy sources, and renewables in particular, had fallen dramatically.
The success of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme has resulted in a 67 percent drop in average prices for renewables in the country since 2011.
Joemat-Pettersson’s remarks suggest the updated IRP could look different to the 2010 version, allowing for a “big gas” scenario and further expansion of renewables.
She asked delegates to come up with concrete proposals to mobilise capital and increase access to finance for renewables, assuring them their inputs would be heard and factored into the government’s thinking.
“SAIREC comes at a time when an energy transition towards renewables is accelerating world-wide thanks to advances in renewable energy technologies, increases in capacity and rapid cost reductions,” said Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century chairman, Arthouros Zervos.
“On the African continent South Africa is leading the way with its Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme and is, therefore, the ideal host for such an international gathering,” said Zervos.
CAPE ARGUS