RMIPPPP gaslights energy policy

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When it comes to energy policy in South Africa there are so many competing voices and vested interests that it’s often hard for the public to discern lobbying for one technology over another to benefit a specific vendor or group over genuine concerns around long-term energy policy and planning.
When Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe announced the winning emergency power bidders and opened bid window 5 of the REIPPP programme, there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over the inclusion of Turkish power ships in particular.
Not so much the technology solution as the term, which over 20 years, locks South Africa into a solution that is meant to fill the gap until more permanent solutions can be implemented to close the gap.
Speculation is rife that the request for proposal was engineered to achieve this outcome which will create an anchor buyer for the further development of the Brulpadda prospect.
This would skew and undermine the evolution of energy policy. It is far from clear the extent to which, or whether at all, gas will be a least-cost component in the South African energy mix in ten years’ time. Evolutions in renewable energy costs, battery costs, electrolyser costs and as yet unknown technology costs are exceptionally dynamic and set to become more so, driven by decarbonisation policies. Signing a 20-year PPA which essentially creates an artificial secure government guaranteed demand for some R60Bn gas from around 2025-2040 poses serious risks of closing down South African energy policy options and locking in higher costs.
Michael Avery spoke to Department of Mineral Resources and Energy Deputy Director General, Jacob Mbele; Professor Mark Swilling, Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development at the School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University; & Stefano Marani, the CEO of Renergen a junior natural gas and helium company listed here and an in Australia.
7 Apr 2021 11AM English South Africa Business · Investing

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