President Jacob Zuma revealed plans that are in motion to deal with the country’s electricity challenges, during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday evening.

He delivered his speech as Eskom’s power grid remains constrained, with the power utility being forced to implement load shedding in recent times.

Energy constraints hinder economic growth and are also a major inconvenience to economic growth, the President said.

Alternative energy sources

The President said government was also pursuing alternative energy sources.

To date, government has procured 4 000 megawatts from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) using renewable sources.

“The first three bid windows of the renewable energy procurement process attracted more than R140 billion from private investors.

“A total of 3 900 megawatts of renewable energy has also been sourced, with 32 projects with a capacity of just over 1 500 megawatts completed and connected to the grid.

“Eskom itself has completed the construction of the Sere Wind Farm, which is already delivering 100 megawatts to the grid, well ahead of its intended launch in March this year,” he said.

Some of the measures taken to get additional power onto the grid include procuring 2 400 megawatts of new coal fired power generation capacity from IPPs in December last year.

The procurement process for 2 400 megawatts of new gas fired generation will commence in the first quarter of the new financial year (2015/16) and a total of 2 600 megawatts of hydro-electric capacity will be sourced from the SADC region.

President gives preview of the long-term energy plan

The President said government would pursue gas, petroleum, nuclear, hydropower and other sources as part of the energy mix.

He said South Africa was surrounded by gas rich countries, while shale gas deposits have been discovered in the Karoo region.

“The Operation Phakisa Ocean Economy initiative, launched last year, also promises to unveil more oil and gas resources, which will be a game changer for our country and region.

“Government is also exploring the procurement of the 9 600 megawatts nuclear build programme as approved in the Integrated Resource Plan 2010-2030,” he said.

President Zuma said government has signed Inter-Governmental Agreements and carried out vendor parade workshops in which five countries came to present their proposals on nuclear power. This includes the United States of America, South Korea, Russia, France and China.

“All these countries will be engaged in a fair, transparent and competitive procurement process to select a strategic partner or partners to undertake the nuclear build programme.

“Our target is to connect the first unit to the grid by 2023, just in time for Eskom to retire part of its aging power plants.

“With regards to hydro power, the Grand Inga Hydro-electrical Project partnership with the Democratic Republic of Congo will generate over 48 000 megawatts of clean hydro-electricity.  South Africa will have access to over 15 000 megawatts,” President Zuma said.

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