Responding to the call by the National Planning Commission (NPC) to increase new power generation in order for the country to achieve energy security, the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has reiterated its position on the need for a comprehensive plan informed by energy experts and government stakeholders.
The wind industry body said it welcomes the NPC’s recommendations and recognises the suggested solutions, which may address the short-term power issues. SAWEA further expressed that there is a need for expert stakeholder engagement with the government.
“We reiterate the need for a comprehensive solution that will not only address the short-term energy crisis, but will deliver a comprehensive plan to address local content, industrialisation, economic impact and the strangling grid constraints,” said Niveshen Govender, CEO of SAWEA.
SAWEA has furthermore reaffirmed its commitment to continue to support and engage with government and the country’s grid operators, to navigate through the power constraints.
“The development of a strategic plan under government direction, should give rise to a set of solutions to address the complexities of the challenge. The determinations should consider grid infrastructure, accelerated new generation capacity, grid balancing, affordability, timelines as well as social economic imperatives aligned to our countries objectives.
Addressing naysayers’ call to replace the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), the Association is of the view that whilst this policy document may not be perfect, it certainly is effective in providing clear direction.
“There are various outdated assumptions that may need to be updated, and we agree that the IRP should be updated more regularly, in order to stay relevant, however, we certainly advocate for the continued implementation of this policy document,” confirmed Govender.
The industry body said it looks forward for the IRP to be updated and to include a lot more new generation capacity, quicker and to be focused on proven, cost effective renewable energy technologies, which include wind and solar PV.
