SA Affordable Housing May - June 2020 // ISSUE: 82 | Page 9

NEWS It’s time to prepare for the expanding renewable energy sector One of the major constraints on new large-scale affordable housing projects, is the strain on the national Eskom grid. With Eskom announcing in February this year, the possibility of load shedding over the next 18 months, South Africa’s energy situation is precarious, says Janine Espin, Managing Director at EDS. Because Eskom alone cannot supply the R1-trillion investment in power generation, transmission and distribution needed before 2030 in terms of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), private sector participation will be essential. As such, our focus on the supply of renewable energy by Independent Power Producers (IPPs) needs to intensify. However, this will require the obstacles that currently hinder private sector energy solutions to be removed, in order to give the renewable energy sector the space it needs to grow. Renewable energy holds great promise for South Africa, and Janine Espin, managing director at EDS. since its inception in EDS 2011, the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement program has planned for the creation of 38 701 full-time jobs and a contribution of more than USD14-billion in private sector investment in South Africa, according to Minister of Energy Jeff Radebe, as 102 IPP projects have been procured from four bidding round windows with the announcement of the fifth window hotly awaited. “After many years of debate, the Integrated Resource Plan was finally published by the Department of Energy in 2019. Although there is concern that the Plan is inadequate in a number of aspects, these concerns must be viewed through the prism of a handful of developments. The first being the encouragement for IPPs to bring forward the new renewables commissioning date from 2025 to 2022, along with an increase in the annual allocation for large-scale corporate power purchase agreements. Additionally, an annual commissioning of 1.6GW of wind energy between 2022 and 2030 has been introduced, which is anticipated to create as many as 16 000 direct jobs annually over the eight-year period,” says Espin. “While there is no indication as to when the fifth round of bidding is due to start for companies to submit their proposals for consideration by the Department of Energy, IPPs and companies in related industries should not lose hope or sit idle. Due to the fact that these IPP projects can have such a positive impact on unemployment in surrounding rural areas and contribute to the strengthening of our power position and ultimately our economy - IPPs should be using the time to prepare.” WIKIMEDIA COMMONS A wind farm in the Eastern Cape. www.saaffordablehousing.co.za MAY - JUNE 2020 7