Page 10 - Energize March 2022

NEWS

Former CEO to chair SA’s

climate finance team

usiness Day reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Daniel
Mminele to head up the presidential climate finance task team. The team’s brief
Bis to guide the government on the most efficient and effective use of the US$8,5-
billion (about R131-billion) funding agreement which was secured during November’s
COP26 meeting.
South Africa’s energy sector is very heavily dependent on fossil fuels – mostly coal
– which makes the country the largest CO 2 emitter on the continent. The environmental
damage, the high levels of air pollution, and the premature deaths of thousands of
South Africans each year, caused directly by the mining and burning of coal, is seen fuels to renewable energy sources such
as being of such serious dimensions that other industrialised countries are willing to as solar, wind, water and hydrogen. It
support South Africa’s transition to a cleaner future. has been estimated that this transition
South Africa’s energy sector employs many millions of people, both directly and would cost about R300-billion and
indirectly. The coal mining industry alone is one of the country’s largest employers. could take 30 years to accomplish.
Part of the team’s work will be to help the country to transition to a cleaner economy Mminele is a former CEO of ABSA,
without causing major job losses. was deputy governor of the Reserve
The money will be provided by a number of countries including the US, the UK, Bank, and is currently an independent
and Germany. It is to be used to support South Africa’s transition to a lower-carbon non-executive director at Alexander
economy, primarily by moving electricity generation away from coal and other fossil- Forbes.

Hydropower company looking to deploy

10 GW of solar over next five years

V-Tech reports that Indian state- Rajasthan – one of the three states that make up the vast majority of PV deployment in
run hydropower company SJVN is India – was an ideal location for the projects, said Sharma.
Pplanning to deploy 10 GW of solar “The state has the largest solar power potential in the country,” he said. “It receives the
PV in Rajasthan over the next five years highest solar radiation (5,72 kWh per meter square per day) and also has more than 325
through a INR50,000 core (US$6.7 billion) clear sunny days in a year. All these factors work in favour of developing the projects.”
investment. Sharma said that, in line with government climate objectives, the state-run company
Confirmed during a signing ceremony was re-orientating to prioritise renewables deployment.
in August but announced this week (8 At COP26 India committed to 500 GW of renewable by 2030, including 280 GW of
February), the plans will see the solar solar, and pledged to reach net zero by 2070, which was received with disappointment in
projects built on land supplied by the some quarters but was in keeping with what most analysts predicted, given the country’s
Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation energy needs.
after state authorities accepted the At the start of the month, the Indian government released its ‘game changing’ budget
proposal. An MoU is due to be signed for the upcoming year, which included a combination of carrot and stick measures to drive
shortly. PV manufacturing, and in turn, employment in the country.
Electricity generated from the A Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on solar products has been established to stimulate
projects will be distributed via Power domestic manufacturing, while an increasingly well-funded Production Linked Incentive
Purchase Agreements (PPAs), taking (PLI) scheme has been designed to support the development of an Indian industrial base
advantage of “competitive tariff-based for solar.
opportunities available in the market”, However, Fitch Solutions has warned that India is at risk of a supply and demand
said SJVN chairman and managing mismatch for solar equipment if domestic PV manufacturers are unable to meet the
director Nand Lal Sharma. quantity and quality required by project developers.

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