President Cyril Ramaphosa says it is ‘difficult and unacceptable’ that South Africa continues to face ongoing load shedding, with his government now working to ensure it comes to a permanent end.
Writing in his weekly letter to the public, Ramaphosa said that rolling blackouts are costly for the economy, causing significant frustration and hardship for all citizens and businesses.
For years, the existing power stations were not appropriately maintained, mainly as these plants were made to ‘run harder’ to meet the country’s energy needs, he said. There was insufficient investment in the technical skills needed to operate and maintain power plants. “In 2018, we revived the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme that had been stalled since 2015. This enabled 2,205 MW from Bid Window 4 to proceed to construction, most of which has now been connected to the grid.
“A joint task team comprising all relevant government departments and the private sector is working to accelerate investments in new generation projects under 100 MW. There is a pipeline of 58 projects under development with a combined capacity of 4,500 MW, many of which will commence construction this year. The task team is working to speed up environmental authorisation and other approvals.
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