As it was announced that independent power producers (IPPs) would be chosen by Q3 in South Africa, the Public Enterprises Deputy Minister reiterated the selection process and its necessity (SA to Select RE IPPs by Q3). At the Interministerial Committee on Energy, Enoch Godongwana said the government must end the IPP struggle in order to combat the looming energy crisis.
"We cannot leave that issue to Eskom any longer," he said at a clean technology conference in Sandton. "We didn’t take the whistle from Eskom. Eskom remained a player and a referee … We want to settle that matter as soon as possible," said the Deputy Minister.
Godongwana noted that South Africa would need about 50,000 MW of additional power generation capacity over the next 20 years as a result of needed maintenance on pre-existing infrastructure. "Policies and measures are being put in place to ensure that there is a more ambitious national target for renewable energy that is also attainable," said Godongwana on behalf of Energy Minister Dipuo Peters.
While South Africa will need to continuously revamp its renewable energy feed-in tariff (Refit) and ensure proper representation from IPPs, it should be noted that great progress has been made. The World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) noted in its World Wind Energy Report for 2009 that great milestones had been made in order to propel the wind energy sector – including the Refit instituted in South Africa. In addition, the World Cup set to take place this summer has upped the country’s RE efforts.
