The government relaxed local content requirements for solar panels and began a review of plans for the nation’s energy mix.
The 100% local content requirement for solar panel materials has been lowered to 30% in a bid to speed up new generation capacity, the National Energy Crisis Committee said in a report posted on the presidential website.
South Africa is considering changes to its 2019 Integrated Resource Plan, an infrastructure plan for its ailing power sector. The country is experiencing the worst power outages in its history, with blackouts of up to 12 hours a day imposed by Eskom to protect the network from collapse.
The review is scheduled for completion in March and will reflect South Africa’s power generation needs and climate commitments, according to the committee known as Necom, which is led by the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Eskom, which produces almost all of the country’s electricity, has implemented blackouts every day so far in 2023 as its aging, mostly coal-fired power plants fail. Up to 6,000 megawatts of additional capacity is needed to secure the system and end outages, according to Andre De Ruyter, the utility’s outgoing CEO.
Deals for 1,800 megawatts of new capacity have been signed under the so-called fifth bidding window of the country’s renewable energy program, and a “pragmatic approach” to local content rules will help ensure construction starts on time, it said Necom. The government has faced criticism in the past for its localization policies.
An immediate measure to alleviate the blackouts will be for the government to buy excess capacity (some 162 megawatts have been identified) from independent power producers, the committee said, without giving a time frame. A request for proposals for battery storage will also be published “shortly”, and another for gas power is due in March, he said.
Eskom’s outage funding for the fiscal year ending March 2023 was increased to R9.5bn from R8.2bn, Necom said.
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