• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us

For all official information and updates regarding COVID-19, visit the South African Department of Health's website at www.sacoronavirus.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home Opinion

From The Desk of The President

22 March 2021, 10:52 AM  |
SABC SABC |  @SABCNews
President Cyril Ramaphosa.

President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Image: PresidencyZA

President Cyril Ramaphosa.

For more than a week now, South Africans have had to endure the disruption and inconvenience of intermittent load shedding, as the country’s power stations have not been able to produce enough electricity to meet demand.

The electricity shortage has been a problem for more than a decade, with economic activity being severely interrupted every time there is a power cut, affecting smaller businesses and large industries alike. Over the years, it has contributed to slow economic growth and weak investor confidence.

Resolving our energy challenges isn’t just urgent; it is fundamental to South Africa’s economic recovery. That is why we are making every effort to bring new power generation capacity online in the shortest possible time.

A major step forward in this effort was the announcement last week by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy of the companies that had successfully bid to supply 2 000 megawatts of emergency power to address the gap in capacity.

The power will be produced from a range of sources including solar, wind, liquified natural gas and battery storage. These projects will involve an investment of around R45 billion by the private sector. Around half of all the materials used in the construction will be locally sourced. The projects should be providing power to the nation by August next year.

Also last week, government released a request for proposals for the procurement of a further 2 600 megawatts of renewable energy. This is the fifth ‘bid window’ in the country’s highly successful programme to buy renewable energy from independent power producers. This programme has led to significant private investment in the country’s energy infrastructure, and is an important part of our commitment to move towards cleaner energy sources.

Another part of the effort to fill the electricity supply gap is to make it easier for industry to generate electricity for its own use. This ‘embedded generation’ will reduce the demand on Eskom’s power stations and will increase the country’s overall generation capacity through private investment.

As I said in the State of the Nation Address last month, work is underway to increase the licensing threshold connecting self-generated power to the grid.

This is the latest in a series of steps we have taken as government over the past year to improve our national energy security by bringing new generation capacity online.

Over the course of the next year, government plans to release four more requests for proposals for new power generation projects, in renewable energy, gas, coal and battery storage respectively. These projects would be expected to provide over 7 000 megawatts of electricity.

These new sources of electricity are vital to ensure a reliable supply of energy into the future.

Eskom has 15 coal-fired power stations and one nuclear-powered power station. In addition there are nine smaller stations run on a combination of diesel, pumped storage and hydroelectricity.

Most of the coal power stations are more than 40 years old and are prone to breakdowns. In addition, much of the necessary maintenance on these plants was neglected for many years. Eskom estimates that breakdowns consume as much as a fifth of our electricity capacity.

That is why, as we build this new generation capacity, Eskom is working to ensure that it undertakes the planned maintenance of its plants. While this may mean load shedding in the immediate term, better maintenance will lead to improved plant performance in the medium term and to greater stability in supply.

While Eskom works to improve its operational performance and new generation capacity is being built, there is much that we can each do to improve the situation.

Beyond the free basic electricity that government provides, we need to make sure that all of us pay for the electricity we use, whether as individuals, households, businesses, industries or municipalities.

Illegal connections, meter tampering and the illegal sale of prepaid electricity vouchers make it much harder for Eskom and municipal power utilities to improve their infrastructure and even to continue to provide electricity.

The actions we are taking to restructure and to strengthen our electricity system will fundamentally change the country’s energy future.

We are making progress. Our efforts are gathering momentum.

We are steadily restoring Eskom to technical, operational and financial viability. We are making our electricity system more efficient and competitive. And we are making great strides in bringing new generating capacity online as quickly as possible.

We are all looking forward to the day when the power comes on and it stays on.

If we push ahead with the work we’ve begun, if we all play our part, that day will soon arrive.

With best regards,

Share article
Previous Post

Russia’s top diplomat starts China visit with call to reduce US dollar use

Next Post

Decade-long shortage of electricity contributed to slow economic growth: Ramaphosa

Related Posts

BRICS nations

BRICS Summit rejects a Western-led unipolar world and its abuses, particularly sanctions

24 June 2022, 9:36 PM
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and his wife Denise Nyakeru Tshisekedi stand while Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde sign a guest book during their visit to national museum in Kinshasa

Retracing Belgium’s dark past in the Congo, and attempts to forge deeper ties

23 June 2022, 9:20 AM
Halima Hassan Abdullahi points at the graves of her daughter's twins Ebla and Abdia, who died of hunger, May 25, 2022.

No time for complacency: Somalia’s unfolding famine catastrophe

22 June 2022, 5:15 PM
Gupta brothers

What it’ll take for the Guptas to face corruption charges in South Africa

21 June 2022, 7:47 PM
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki: Celebrating 80 Years of Impactful Living

20 June 2022, 12:37 PM
China's national flag is seen in front of cranes on a construction site at a commercial district in Beijing, China, January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

There is no stopping growing China-Africa relations as Wu Peng tours the continent

17 June 2022, 5:20 AM
Next Post
The national power company had been forced to use reserve water from its reservoirs to keep hydropower plants going.

Decade-long shortage of electricity contributed to slow economic growth: Ramaphosa

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • EMS says fire at Bree Street Taxi Rank in Johannesburg has been extinguished
  • The public has until 18 May to make submissions on Icasa’s regulations for extension of expiry period for data, airtime
  • ANC NEC expected to hold a special meeting on Sunday
  • Eastern Cape flood victims plead for support as access to food, services remains difficult
  • Amathole Regional Secretary elated to have corruption charges against him dropped
  • East London police search for clues that led to tavern death; calls to revoke tavern’s licence 
  • UPDATE: At least 17 people killed in an East London tavern stampede
  • South Africans no longer required to wear face masks indoors
  • E Cape Liquor Board says Enyobeni tavern owner will face criminal charges
  • Zulu Royal Palace abuzz as King Misuzulu’s cleansing ceremony continues
  • East London police search for clues that led to tavern death; calls to revoke tavern’s licence 
  • UPDATE: At least 17 people killed in an East London tavern stampede
  • Mosimane alleges sabotage from CAF President Patrice Motsepe
  • SANTACO and NTA calls on COSATU to join the national shutdown over the hiking fuel prices
  • NTA yet to decide whether to support calls for national shutdown amid fuel price hikes

LATEST

[File Image] Farm workers busy at work.
  • Business

Farmers worried rain will negatively affect their output harvesting season


Cocaine is displayed to journalists after being seized by Guinea-Bissau's judicial police in the capital Bissau, March 21, 2012.
  • Africa

Drug use high in West and Central Africa, trafficking funds conflict: UN


Workers pressure wash the logo of NASA on the Vehicle Assembly Building before SpaceX will send two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, May 19, 2020.
  • Sci-tech

NASA to launch first rocket from a commercial spaceport in Australia


[File Image] A charred car is seen in front of an apartment building destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 30, 2022.
  • World
  • Russia, Ukraine conflict

‘At least 13 killed in Russian missile strike on shopping mall’


Former FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke leaves the Swiss Federal Criminal Court (Bundesstrafgericht) in Bellinzona, Switzerland, September 14, 2020.
  • Sport

Ex-FIFA exec Valcke to appeal bribery conviction


Models present creations by designer Hedi Slimane as part of his Spring/Summer 2023 Menswear collection show for fashion house Celine during Men's Fashion Week in Paris, France June 26, 2022.
  • Lifestyle

Celine closes Paris Fashion Week with bare-chested models and dazzling blazers


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2022

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous Russia’s top diplomat starts China visit with call to reduce US dollar use
Next Decade-long shortage of electricity contributed to slow economic growth: Ramaphosa