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South Africa’s government loosened local-content requirements for solar panels and kicked off a review of plans for the nation’s energy mix.
The 100 percent local-content requirement for materials in solar panels has been cut to 30 percent in a bid to accelerate new generation capacity, the National Energy Crisis Committee said in a report published on the presidency’s website.
South Africa is considering changes to its 2019 Integrated Resource Plan — an infrastructure blueprint for its ailing electricity sector. The country is suffering its worst-ever power cuts, with blackouts of as long as 12 hours a day. Completion of the review is targeted for March and will reflect South Africa’s power-generation needs and climate commitments, according to the committee known as Necom, which is run by the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Eskom, which produces almost all the nation’s electricity, has implemented blackouts every day. As much as 6 000 megawatts of extra capacity is needed to secure the system and end outages, according to Andre De Ruyter, the utility’s outgoing chief executive officer.
Eskom’s outage funding for the financial year ending March 2023 has been increased to R9,5 billion (US$555 million) from R8,2 billion, Necom said. — Bloomberg.
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