Mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe says lobby groups' assumption of the right to veto the government’s energy sector interventions has frustrated an already challenging energy crisis for South Africa.
Mantashe was speaking at the Enlit Africa Conference in Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon, amid a worsening load-shedding crisis at Eskom and the ever-growing contestation around energy technologies as the government gradually reforms the energy sector.
Mantashe has been an ardent supporter of keeping coal’s prominence in South Africa’s energy mix, much to the chagrin of environmental lobby groups. He has also supported shale gas exploration and the controversial Karpowership technology being contested in court.
Addressing delegates at the conference, Mantashe said entrepreneurs and lobbyists were not the same in the sense that lobbyists argued for a specific energy technology while entrepreneurs argued for a product.
Mantashe took the opportunity to punt the department of mineral resources & energy and energy’s amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act, which seek to allow for the creation of a transmission systems operator.
“We are establishing a standalone transmission system in which transmission will be a market of its own, independent of the dynamics of Eskom. You can’t have a market when there is a monopoly. Now, because IPPs (independent power producers) have a new market emerging, it is time to create that market and have transmission,” Mantashe said.
Mantashe told delegates that South Africa’s transition was a journey, not an event, and that it will be a combination of various technologies to empower the South African economy to move from high carbon emissions to low carbon emissions.
“The IRP (integrated resource plan) 2019 talks to something everyone talks to, called just energy transition. The distinction between IRP and general speak is that general speak says to move from coal to renewable. The IRP is about movement from high carbon emission to low carbon emission,” Mantashe said.
He urged the private sector to participate in the updated IRP’s bid windows 7 and 8 which will pursue 5,000MW each, including gas-to-power at 3,000MW and 1,230MW in storage. He said bidders should have a stomach for lengthy litigation from lobby groups.
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Mantashe decries lobbyist challenges to energy plans as woes endure
Image: Freddy Mavunda
Mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe says lobby groups' assumption of the right to veto the government’s energy sector interventions has frustrated an already challenging energy crisis for South Africa.
Mantashe was speaking at the Enlit Africa Conference in Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon, amid a worsening load-shedding crisis at Eskom and the ever-growing contestation around energy technologies as the government gradually reforms the energy sector.
Mantashe has been an ardent supporter of keeping coal’s prominence in South Africa’s energy mix, much to the chagrin of environmental lobby groups. He has also supported shale gas exploration and the controversial Karpowership technology being contested in court.
Addressing delegates at the conference, Mantashe said entrepreneurs and lobbyists were not the same in the sense that lobbyists argued for a specific energy technology while entrepreneurs argued for a product.
Mantashe took the opportunity to punt the department of mineral resources & energy and energy’s amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act, which seek to allow for the creation of a transmission systems operator.
“We are establishing a standalone transmission system in which transmission will be a market of its own, independent of the dynamics of Eskom. You can’t have a market when there is a monopoly. Now, because IPPs (independent power producers) have a new market emerging, it is time to create that market and have transmission,” Mantashe said.
Mantashe told delegates that South Africa’s transition was a journey, not an event, and that it will be a combination of various technologies to empower the South African economy to move from high carbon emissions to low carbon emissions.
“The IRP (integrated resource plan) 2019 talks to something everyone talks to, called just energy transition. The distinction between IRP and general speak is that general speak says to move from coal to renewable. The IRP is about movement from high carbon emission to low carbon emission,” Mantashe said.
He urged the private sector to participate in the updated IRP’s bid windows 7 and 8 which will pursue 5,000MW each, including gas-to-power at 3,000MW and 1,230MW in storage. He said bidders should have a stomach for lengthy litigation from lobby groups.
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READ MORE
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