DA welcomes gazetting of Integrated Resource Plan
27 August 2018
The DA welcomes the gazetting of the latest Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) by Energy Minister Jeff Radebe after a number of false starts over the last few years.
In particular, we welcome the policy shift away from building new nuclear power plants. This IRP confirms that former President Jacob Zuma’s corrupt nuclear deal has been shut down in favour of cheaper, cleaner sources of energy.
Minister Radebe and President Ramaphosa deserve credit for taking on the Zuma faction and winning. It is now presumably up to Deputy President David Mabuza – as the President’s special envoy to Russia – to explain to President Vladimir Putin that the nuclear deal is off. We wish him the best of luck on his mission.
The fact of the matter is that we never needed new nuclear plants, and we didn’t have the money to build them. On this score, the new draft IRP is a substantial improvement on the old one.