South Africa: Cabinet Welcomes Launch of Fund to Address Energy Challenges

Cabinet has welcomed the launch of the Resource Mobilisation Fund (RMF) by the Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.

“This collaboration between government and Business Unity South Africa seeks to provide resources and expertise to enable government to effectively implement the Energy Action Plan,” Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said on Thursday in Pretoria.

The plan was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July 2022 and the 2023 State of the Nation Address as an example of effective social compacting and continued confidence in South Africa. It was developed through extensive consultation and endorsed by energy experts as providing the best and fastest path towards energy security.

“The RMF will boost the work of the National Energy Crisis Committee to achieve its goal of ending load-shedding in South Africa. Cabinet appealed to all stakeholders to contribute towards the implementation of the Energy Action Plan in order to tackle the heavy toll of load-shedding on the economy,” Ntshavheni said.

The recently published National State of Disaster regulations by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs allows government to respond more effectively and with the necessary pace to deal with the severe electricity supply constraints.

The Minister was briefing the media on the outcomes of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

“Cabinet noted the concerns raised recently by S&P Global Ratings that South Africa’s economic growth was facing increasing pressure from infrastructure constraints, particularly severe electricity shortages. To address this challenge, government has since embarked on a series of decisive actions, which include fiscal consolidation, rapid economic reforms and urgent actions aimed at reducing load-shedding in the short term and transforming the sector through market reforms to achieve long-term energy security,” she said.

Cabinet also welcomed the opening of a bid window for 513 megawatts (MW) of battery storage capacity as part of strengthening the country’s response to the energy challenge.

The closing date for the bid submissions is 5 July 2023 at 5pm and all interested parties can complete the online electronic registration form available at www.ipp-storage.co.za.

“Cabinet also welcomed the decision by Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, Barbara Creecy, to grant Eskom an exemption from the lengthy process required to amend its Atmospheric Emission License. According to Eskom, this exemption will enable it to implement a temporary solution to the Kusile power-station damage by November 2023 and thus allow Kusile to resume generation capacity of 2100MW which will reduce South Africa’s exposure to load shedding by two levels,” Ntshavheni said.