Minister in the Presidency for Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says as government and Eskom continue to resolve challenges at the power utility, government is also seized with introducing new generation capacity from renewable sources to ensure energy security into the future.

The Minister was speaking during an update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan on Monday.

‘We are really looking long-term and introducing interventions that can make it possible for us to introduce new generation capacity from a multiplicity of fuel sources and players to ensure that we are not confronted with the same problem going into the future.

‘Now we are looking beyond Eskom as part of an enduring resilient solution to the energy crisis and ultimately, we are able to achieve energy sovereignty,’ he said.

The Minister said government is ‘doing everything possible’ to ensure that new generation projects are brought into the fold.

He added that currently, there are about 120 projects with some 12 000 megawatts
.

‘There is a need for us to expedite the applications for new generation. We are departing from the current arrangement. So a project developer will go to a number of departments…to get the environmental impact assessment… They [then] lodge an application with the Department of Water Affairs for water use licence, and they’ll lodge an application again with Eskom for grid access.

‘What we have done is to create a single window of entry, what we refer to as a one stop shop, so that project developers don’t necessarily have that onerous responsibility of going to multiple departments. They simply go onto this platform and they are able to make these applications,’ he said.

Ramokgopa said Eskom and government are working hard to ensure a reduction in the amount of time it takes for renewable energy resources to be connected to the grid, with backlogs receiving urgent attention.

‘There’s additional work that is being done to ensure that we are able to introduce new generation capacity, that there’s no overre
liance just on Eskom. The introduction of reforms are beginning to see practical progress. The measure of that progress is in the number of megawatts that we are able to receive,’ he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency