Gas should not been seen only as a transitional energy source – Ramokgopa
Africa’s natural gas resources should be fully exploited, South African Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa affirmed on Tuesday. He was delivering the keynote address at the Enlit Africa 2025 conference, being held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. He also rejected the idea that gas was to be seen only as a transitional source of energy, on the way to a net-zero carbon emissions energy future.
“Gas is not a transitional source of energy,” he asserted. “Gas is a destination.”
He highlighted Africa’s significant natural gas resources. For examples, in Southern Africa alone, he cited Mozambique and Namibia.
The production of all the discovered but not yet exploited African gas fields would increase the continent’s share of global greenhouse-gas emissions to only 3.5%, he pointed out. “That’s really insignificant in the total conversation.”
He did concede that 80% of the future increase in electricity generation capacity, presumably in Africa, would be provided by renewable energy. But he noted that renewables had issues, such as intermittency.
Connected with renewable energy, he reported that South Africa was seeking to implement micro-grids. The country was trying to cut the costs involved in implementing them.
In his address, he also pointed to the fact that Enlit Africa was being run in partnership with, and alongside, the Water Security Africa conference. He described energy and water as the “foundational industries”, all across the world. “The two cannot be decoupled if we want sustainable development.”
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