REUTERS

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who did not refer directly to nuclear power in his speech, said the energy sector would focus on demand-side management - reducing current use- to address the impact of limited supply until new generation capacity becomes available. Picture: Reuters/Phil Noble

While renewable energy features “strongly” in South Africa’s long-term energy plans, Eskom’s R300 billion nuclear power station fleet is still on the government’s books.

According to the Budget documents, the nuclear fleet should generate 9 600MW (megawatts) of power by the 2029 completion date.

The project is in the “final stages of consideration before (a) financial proposal can be determined”.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who did not refer directly to nuclear power in his speech, said the energy sector would focus on demand-side management – reducing current use – to address the impact of limited supply until new generation capacity became available.

Eskom’s two new large coal-fired plants – Medupi and Kusile – are expected to start operating in 2013 and 2014 respectively, with full generation by 2017 and 2018.

Gordhan also said that an additional R4.7bn had been allocated to complete the installation of one million solar water geysers, while municipalities would get R600m to install low-energy lighting and equipment.

A further R300m was being provided to electrify informal settlements.

A revised policy paper on a carbon tax – to help reduce the use of “dirty” fossil fuels like oil and coal – would be published this year for a second round of public consultation. The government had accepted the need to price carbon emissions and to phase in an appropriate tax instrument.

The levy on electricity generated from non-renewable sources would increase by 1c/kWh (kilowatt hour) from July 1, but should have “little overall impact” on electricity tariffs, he added.

This would replace the current funding mechanism for energy-efficiency initiatives such as the solar water geyser programme.