President Cyril Ramaphosa says the ANC supports the revisiting of SA’s decommissioning of coal-fired power stations schedule as the country struggles to balance its energy security and climate commitments.
Ramaphosa, who was delivering closing remarks at the end of the party’s national executive committee’s (NEC) four-day meeting, said this was not a new approach as a number of other countries have had to do so when they were faced with a variety of crises in their energy generation sectors.
“The NEC supports the approach that as we prioritise ending load-shedding, we will need to revisit our decommissioning schedule to balance energy security and our climate commitments,” he said.
The NEC noted that as government worked on achieving energy security for the country, it was doing so in the context of the country’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emission which harmed the planet and also affected the health of many people.
He said SA was committed to its emission reduction target to prevent the effects of climate change.
“We must also protect jobs in sectors of our economy which have to decarbonise to remain globally competitive and viable.
“However, the manner in which these commitments are implemented must not compromise our national interest such as energy security or the immediate priority of reducing load-shedding,” said Ramaphosa.
Earlier on Monday, writing in his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa said in some cases, it may be necessary to re-examine the time frame and the process of decommissioning or mothballing of coal-fired power stations temporarily to address the electricity supply shortfall.
“Few would argue that we should close down power stations even as we experience load-shedding.”
He said a number of countries in Europe that had decommissioned or mothballed their fossil-fuelled power stations were recommissioning them to address the energy shortage as a result of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
“The process of re-examining our time frames is not a reversal of our position on the just energy transition. Other countries have had to do the same in recent years without deviating from their long-term shift to renewable energy sources.
“Any decision on decommissioning will be informed by a detailed technical assessment of the feasibility of continuing to operate older plants. It will also be informed by the time frame in which we can expect new capacity from other energy sources and the impact on our decarbonisation trajectory,” wrote Ramaphosa.
He said the NEC welcomed the significant steps taken by government to implement the energy action plan, with an immediate focus to improve the performance of power stations, the provision of emergency generation capacity and ensuring uninterrupted power supply to strategic installations and infrastructure.
The NEC noted that Eskom was undertaking necessary maintenance now to ensure that planned outages could be limited, particularly during winter when demand was expected to increase.
“This situation requires us to manage the demand of our electricity as we enter winter. For example, we are aware that Eskom was, in the past, able to implement a successful public campaign to reduce electricity demand during the winter of 2010.
“This campaign was able to save 3000MW of consumption,” he said.
He then called on South Africans to contribute to the reduction of load-shedding by switching off their geysers during the day and in the evening, saying this will result in Eskom being able to have added capacity for energy generation.
“This has worked in the past and we do believe in the course of this crisis, it is a measure that we can embark upon.”
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Ramaphosa: ANC NEC supports the need to revisit decommissioning schedule
Image: Freddy Mavunda/Business Day
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the ANC supports the revisiting of SA’s decommissioning of coal-fired power stations schedule as the country struggles to balance its energy security and climate commitments.
Ramaphosa, who was delivering closing remarks at the end of the party’s national executive committee’s (NEC) four-day meeting, said this was not a new approach as a number of other countries have had to do so when they were faced with a variety of crises in their energy generation sectors.
“The NEC supports the approach that as we prioritise ending load-shedding, we will need to revisit our decommissioning schedule to balance energy security and our climate commitments,” he said.
The NEC noted that as government worked on achieving energy security for the country, it was doing so in the context of the country’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emission which harmed the planet and also affected the health of many people.
He said SA was committed to its emission reduction target to prevent the effects of climate change.
“We must also protect jobs in sectors of our economy which have to decarbonise to remain globally competitive and viable.
“However, the manner in which these commitments are implemented must not compromise our national interest such as energy security or the immediate priority of reducing load-shedding,” said Ramaphosa.
Earlier on Monday, writing in his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa said in some cases, it may be necessary to re-examine the time frame and the process of decommissioning or mothballing of coal-fired power stations temporarily to address the electricity supply shortfall.
“Few would argue that we should close down power stations even as we experience load-shedding.”
He said a number of countries in Europe that had decommissioned or mothballed their fossil-fuelled power stations were recommissioning them to address the energy shortage as a result of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
“The process of re-examining our time frames is not a reversal of our position on the just energy transition. Other countries have had to do the same in recent years without deviating from their long-term shift to renewable energy sources.
“Any decision on decommissioning will be informed by a detailed technical assessment of the feasibility of continuing to operate older plants. It will also be informed by the time frame in which we can expect new capacity from other energy sources and the impact on our decarbonisation trajectory,” wrote Ramaphosa.
He said the NEC welcomed the significant steps taken by government to implement the energy action plan, with an immediate focus to improve the performance of power stations, the provision of emergency generation capacity and ensuring uninterrupted power supply to strategic installations and infrastructure.
The NEC noted that Eskom was undertaking necessary maintenance now to ensure that planned outages could be limited, particularly during winter when demand was expected to increase.
“This situation requires us to manage the demand of our electricity as we enter winter. For example, we are aware that Eskom was, in the past, able to implement a successful public campaign to reduce electricity demand during the winter of 2010.
“This campaign was able to save 3000MW of consumption,” he said.
He then called on South Africans to contribute to the reduction of load-shedding by switching off their geysers during the day and in the evening, saying this will result in Eskom being able to have added capacity for energy generation.
“This has worked in the past and we do believe in the course of this crisis, it is a measure that we can embark upon.”
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Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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