As power utility Eskom’s inability to deal with the power crisis in the country continues unabated, the frustration caused by stage 4 and 6 rolling blackouts that resulted in power outages has had chaotic consequences.
Civil society has weighed in and has given Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe 10 days to address the electricity crisis.
By accelerating the country’s renewable energy and storage capacity challenges, they want procurement of 13 600 MW of renewable energy and 1 575 MW of storage.
The energy crisis in the country has been ongoing for the past 14 years, which has left Eskom with an energy shortfall of between 4 000 to 6 000MW.
The Electricity Governance Initiative is calling for Minister to issue more contracts for independent power producers to provide renewable energy onto the national grid.
Storage capacity however remains a challenge.
For rolling blackouts to be dealt with, Eskom needs an additional 50 000 MW of generation capacity for the national grid over the next decade.
Civil bodies say the Minister could use Section 34 of the Energy Regulation Act to sign a determination. That will get the renewable energy plans mentioned in the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 up and running.
A spokesperson for the Koeberg Alert Alliance, Peter Becker says, “We need a massive and urgent rollout of renewable energy and that is what everyone is saying. As civil society, we are so frustrated…and we are asking them to get on with what everyone is saying from the modelers of the IRPS, CSIR, the Energy Research Council, and the National Development Plan… everyone is saying the same thing, get on with it.”
Strategic Lead at The Green Connection, Liz McDaid, outlines South Africa’s capacity for renewable energy:
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