- South Africa to allow private generation of electricity
- Up to 100MW approved for private investors
- The previously allowed limit was 1MW
South Africa to allow private electricity generation of up to 100MW, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced. This comes as the South African government adjusts the Electricity Regulation Act, which previously allowed for a limit of 1MW generation by private investors.
The move comes as the country is currently experiencing incessant load shedding by the state-owned utility Eskom. Eskom announced a stage 4 load shedding yesterday due to the failure of some of its power plants to generate adequate electricity and poor maintenance issues. Eskom has repeatedly asked consumers to reduce consumption to ease the burden on its ailing network infrastructure.
”There is no doubt that the prospect of a continued energy shortfall and further load-shedding presents a massive risk to our economy”, President Cyril Ramaphosa said today in an online briefing.
“This reform is expected to unlock significant investment in new generation capacity in the short and medium-term, enabling companies to build their own generation facilities to supply their energy needs”, he added.
“Generation projects will still need to obtain permits, a grid connection permit, to ensure that they meet all the requirements for grid compliance. This will ensure that we can bring online as much new capacity as possible without compromising the integrity and stability of our energy system”, Ramaphosa clarified.