Cape Town - If President Cyril Ramaphosa was serious about procuring energy from independent sources then it should reflect in laws and regulations, the Independent Power Producers Association (Saippa) said.
The association’s general secretary Dave Long said laws were restrictive on independent power producers (IPPs) and until changes have been made to them, it was just talk.
In his State of the Nation Address last week, Ramaphosa said load
shedding over the past few months had had a debilitating effect on the country and the economy.
“It has severely set back our efforts to rebuild the economy and to create jobs. Every time it occurs, it disrupts peoples’ lives, causing frustration, inconvenience, hardship. At its core, load shedding is the inevitable consequence of Eskom’s inability over many years, due to debt, lack of capacity and state capture, to service its power plants.
“As Eskom attempts to restore its operational capabilities, measures will be implemented to change energy
generation in the country,” said Ramaphosa.
The president added municipalities in good financial standing would also be able to procure their own energy from IPPs.
The association, which has a membership of 45, said there had been an interest mainly in SA-based photovoltaic (PV) systems.
Long said there had been some interest shown internationally mostly from the UK and Ghana.
PV devices generate electricity directly from sunlight using an electronic process which occurs naturally in certain types of material, known as semiconductors.
African Quartz executive chairperson Dr Dennis George said the focus on PV solar cells in South Africa was to provide a lower cost off-the-grid or grid-connected alternative energy supply to Eskom, households, businesses and other institutions such as municipalities intending to establish their own solar farms.
Economist Dawie Roodt said the president’s announcement would not mean the end of electricity problems.
“IPPs do not solve Eskom’s financial problems. There is still the question of all of Eskom’s debt. In fact instead of helping, bringing IPPs on board will probably exacerbate Eskom’s problems as if the IPPs work well, people will shift their allegiance and dump Eskom.
“The reality is the ANC needs to be in charge and if they allow competition for Eskom the company will be forced into a slow death spiral as there is no way Eskom could compete on efficiency with the private sector,” Roodt said.
@TheCapeArgus