Solidarity petitions Parliament over power crisis
12 July 2022
Solidarity today submitted a petition to Parliament on the power generation crisis that is currently prevailing in South Africa. This comes after Solidarity recently published a report proposing large-scale private power generation as a solution to load-shedding.
In its petition Solidarity demands, among other things, that all regulatory or legislative obstacles to unlimited private power generation be removed as a matter of urgency.
“It is obvious that Eskom does not have the capacity to supply in the country’s current energy needs and it will certainly not be able to meet future energy needs. Eskom itself will decommission most of its coal fleet in the coming decades with 22 000 MW to be decommissioned by 2035,” Connie Mulder, head of the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) said. “By 2035 South Africa will need approximately 68 000 MW of private generation just to replace this coal fleet. We therefore have to move much faster just to maintain the current level of generation. For this reason, we urgently need to facilitate and encourage private generation,” Mulder explained.
According to Solidarity, it is to be regretted that the government is constantly trying to take the lead by wanting to centrally solve the energy crisis. Solidarity argues that this approach has led to up to 15 years of missed opportunities while decision makers have been caught up in incompetency, corruption or ideology.
“The net effect is staggering – South Africa is one of a few industrialised economies that cannot guarantee energy stability to investors and business owners. This loss of energy security is leading to a decline in investment on an ongoing basis and it is contributing to record unemployment levels and anaemic economic growth,” Mulder contended.
Solidarity’s petition demands that the government urgently take the following steps:
1. Decentralise generation as soon as possible;
2. Abolish building regulations that apply to independent renewable power producers (REIPPP) and abolish the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) in its entirety. Also, do away with all unnecessary regulations barring investors from this market (BEE requirements, procurement requirements etc.);
3. Increase training in renewable energy and battery storage technology; and
4. Implement a generous feed-in tariff scheme to address immediate supply issues.
“Although the looming crisis is huge it is not insurmountable. A similar international example is that of Vietnam. In 2007 Vietnam also experienced a major energy crisis with frequent power outages, but today it has an electricity surplus. Everything needed to emulate Vietnam’s success is already available in South Africa. The bottleneck at the moment is quite simply a lack of political will to solve the energy crisis. The solution to South Africa’s energy crisis is to be found on the roofs of millions of South African citizens’ homes; not in the corridors of the Union Buildings,” Mulder concluded.
To read Solidarity’s full petition, click here.
Issued by Connie Mulder, Head: Solidarity Research Institute (SRI), 12 July 2022
