CLIMATE COMMISSION FULLY BEHIND ENERGY RESPONSE PLAN

CLIMATE COMMISSION FULLY BEHIND ENERGY RESPONSE PLAN AND GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT TO CLIMATE RESILIENT AND SUSTAINBLE ELECTRICTY SUPPLY

26 JULY 11:00, PRETORIA

The Presidential Climate Commission welcomes and congratulates government and the social partners on a far reaching and comprehensive recovery plan aimed at addressing the current electricity crisis facing our country. The “Bold, courageous and decisive action to close the electricity gap” as announced by President Ramaphosa is a major step in the country’s climate response and in achieving a just energy transition in South Africa.

The energy recovery and response plan sets out policy measures and actions to be taken by different social partners to minimise the social and economic impacts of the energy transition and to improve the livelihoods of those most vulnerable to climate change.

We appreciate the President’s honest reflection on the causes of our current energy crisis and are inspired by his efforts to engage with all the stakeholders of society and to optimise their range of experience and expertise in formulating these interventions.

We are encouraged that this set of short-term measures is also compatible with our long-term climate objectives and demonstrates South Africa’s commitment to a decarbonisation path.

We remain supportive of the calls for and the creation of an enabling environment to increase the involvement of different implementation partners; in particular the removal of the licensing threshold for embedded generation in the context that projects must still “comply with the technical requirements for grid connection and our environmental legislation”. We applaud the streamlining of bureaucratic processes around those requirements, including “establishing a single point of entry for all energy project applications, to ensure coordination of approval processes across government”.

The ability for rooftop solar PV to provide power directly onto the grid will enable businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar and other embedded electric generation, thus transforming the electricity sector and positioning it to be sustainable and accessible to many South Africans.

We note with concern the impacts of crime and corruption on power and encourage further efforts to prevent this. This is a pervasive problem that effects all components of the energy ecosystem and not just electrical power. We echo the vote of confidence in Eskom’s hard-working staff and leadership and support the measures proposed to enable them to act decisively.

As announced “to ensure effective planning, the country’s Integrated Resource Plan is being reviewed to reflect the need for additional generation capacity and our climate commitments”. To this end the PCC has initiated a series of multistakeholder consultations on the Power Transition and will be making recommendations on a long-term energy mix that ensures energy security and affordability at the same time as reducing our CO₂ emissions.

We support the call for all South Africans to be part of the solution; to contribute in whatever way they can to ending energy scarcity in South Africa; and call on other stakeholders to innovate their practice in support of implementing these measures.

These solutions and actions should include (1) private sector investment in installing significant generation over and above 100 MW, with the participation and empowerment of community and youth, women and worker owned enterprises and cooperatives; (2) The financial service sector developing pioneering finance products and incentives to support small business and households installing rooftop solar and onsite storage; (3) local government and Eskom collaborating on accelerating their feed-in tariff processes; (4) and immediate further release of land by landowners for renewable energy farming, following Eskom’s example.

We can all do our bit, as we consolidate a social compact to transform our economy to one that is climate competitive and believe that together we can increase energy availability, boost investment and economic output and start our just transition journey that aims to eradicate unemployment, inequality and poverty.

The challenge before us now is to ensure implementation and quickly and the PCC stands ready to support these measures and their implementation.

For more information contact Blessing Manale Head : Communications and Outreach blessing@climatecomission.org.za or +27 73 036 5381