Page 22 - Energize August 2022

NEWS

Wind industry welcomes presidential

intervention plan for accelerated power

esponding to President Ramaphosa’s address (25 July 2022), the South African Wind
Energy Association (SAWEA) applauds the numerous interventions that the President
Rand his team have set out to tackle the country’s energy crisis head on.
The Association views the plan as being sharply focused on the key areas of concern,
encompassing the improvement of Eskom’s energy availability factor (EAF) with
maintenance; bringing all available energy into the system quickly; accelerating new
generation capacity; addressing bureaucratic blockages and liberalising the energy system.
By increasing the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement
Programme (REIPPPP) allocation for Bid Window Six (BW6) from 2600MW to 5200MW, the
President is in fact doubling the capacity outlined originally in this procurement round. This
is fundamentally needed to bring on new generation capacity quickly and is in line with the
sector’s advocacy efforts.
“To deliver on the required generation capacity, as outlined, we’d like to highlight the
necessity to urgently address and prioritise the grid capacity challenges, as solutions will
need to be advanced to ensure that the areas with the best wind and solar PV resources are
unblocked,” commented Niveshen Govender, SAWEA CEO. Niveshen Govender
Furthermore, addressing the challenges of the current procurement round, BW5, the
Association welcomes the Government’s stated willingness to work alongside BW5 preferred proposed plan, remains very much in the
bidders, in order to accelerate the close of these projects. hands of the implementing divisions of
SAWEA views the removal of the licencing cap for embedded generation projects as the Government.
next step to liberalising the energy market, but this only makes sense if this is indeed applied “As the energy sector, we have
to larger projects with the ability to wheel power through the network. received our marching orders; as the
Environmental conservation remains a priority in the sustainable approach of including wind sector, we understand our role in
more renewable energy to the energy mix. With this as the basis, we need to allow the the energy mix and stand ready to work
exemptions in the environmental framework processes to be applied to all technologies in with Government to support the country’s
low environmentally sensitive areas. energy security and associated socio-
“While we understand that these are temporary policy adjustments to overcome the economic impact,” concluded Govender.
effects of the energy crisis, we see this as the right steps to creating an open energy system
that will attract more investment, create jobs and benefit the South African economy,” Contact SAWEA, Phone 010 007-5655,
added Govender. admin@sawea.co.za,
SAWEA cautiously adds that the details are yet to be heard and the effectiveness of the https://sawea.org.za

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