Industry body the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has reiterated that South Africa needs a comprehensive plan, informed by energy experts and government stakeholders, to achieve energy security.

This was in response to a call by the National Planning Commission (NPC) to increase new power generation capacity.

“Industry welcomes the NPC’s recommendations and recognises the suggested solutions, which may address the short-term power issues; however, the need for expert stakeholder engagement with government remains necessary,” SAWEA stated on July 11.

“We reiterate the need for a comprehensive solution that will not only address the short-term energy crisis, but will deliver a comprehensive plan to address local content, industrialisation, economic impact and the strangling grid constraints,” said SAWEA CEO Niveshen Govender.

SAWEA has further reaffirmed its commitment to continue to support and engage with government and the country’s grid operators to navigate through the current power constraints.

“The development of a strategic plan under government direction should give rise to a set of solutions to address the complexities of the challenge. The determinations should consider grid infrastructure, accelerated new generation capacity, grid balancing, affordability, timelines, as well as socioeconomic imperatives aligned to our country’s objectives,” the industry body stated.

Further, in response to calls from some quarters to replace the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), SAWEA said that, while this policy document may not be perfect, “it certainly is effective in providing clear direction”.

“There are various outdated assumptions that may need to be updated, and we agree that the IRP should be updated more regularly in order to stay relevant; however, we certainly advocate for the continued implementation of this policy document,” said Govender.

“The industry looks for the IRP to be updated and to include a lot more new generation capacity, more quickly and to be focused on proven, cost-effective renewable energy technologies, which include wind and solar photovoltaic,” he said.