The Department of Energy (DoE) will ensure a maximum level of alignment between the National Development Plan (NDP) and the Strategic and Annual Performance Plans of the department.

“The next five years is about moving South Africa forward towards a secure energy future,” Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson told the portfolio committee on energy.

The DoE has commenced the process of strategic planning to produce a new five year strategic plan and an updated 2014/15 Annual Performance Plan (APP). This new strategic plan, together with the updated APP, will be aligned with the Medium Term Strategic Framework, and is expected to set out in detail how the department will respond to the injunctions of the NDP as outlined by the President in his State of the Nation Address (SONA). It will also set clear targets and the systems and processes to monitor the implementation of these during the same period.

Pettersson said she is determined to bring consistency and certainty with regard to the policy and legislative environment.  The DoE will therefore put a strong and accelerated effort into work in several areas. Among other, these include:

• finalise the Integrated Energy Plan or Energy Master Plan, together with its component parts, the Integrated Resource Plan and the Gas Utilisation Master Plan
• work closely with the Department of Mineral Resources to resolve the issues that will facilitate investment in the gas sector
• regional integration within SADC to diversify South Africa’s energy mix and complement the fossil based energy sector
• accelerate all the outstanding matters that lead to the commencement of a nuclear build programme
• address the problems that Eskom faces in the short to medium term, including its funding model as it plays its rightful role in the electricity sector
• finalise the regulatory framework on pricing for bio-fuels
• accelerate the roll-out of electricity to reach the county’s universal access targets
• address the maintenance and refurbishment backlogs in the electrification distribution industry.

In line with the SONA, Pettersson said the department will work in close co-operation with other spheres of government to render service upliftment support to specific municipalities and district municipalities.

The DoE intends to ensure that further work is done with regards to the re-positioning and strengthening of State Owned Entities, especially with regard to CEF and its subsidiaries, as well as SANEDI and the recently established Nuclear Radio Active Waste Disposal Institute.

“I am not willing to yield or compromise on this, as our State Owned Entities is central to attaining our goals as a developmental state,” said Pettersson. “The energy sector has been identified as one of the biggest constraints to economic development in our country and I intend to correct that.”