- The South African government has unveiled its US$83bn Just Energy Transition Investment Plan.
- South Africa aims to become a world-leading exporter of hydrogen.
H.E. President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled the South African government’s US$83bn Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) 2023-2027 during a virtual meeting of the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) on November 4 with the aim to cut the country’s carbon emissions. In a breakdown, the plan comprises US$58bn for electricity financing needs, US$7.2bn for new energy vehicles and US$18bn for green hydrogen. South Africa committed in its updated Nationally Determined Contribution to reduce its emissions to within a range of 420-350 MtCO2eq by 2030.
In the electricity sector, the country aims to manage the coal generation fleet’s decommissioning alongside renewables’ development to strengthen the transmission grid infrastructure and modernise the electricity distribution system.
South Africa also aims to become a world-leading exporter of hydrogen. The country plans to build more than 100 GW of dedicated renewable electricity (both wind and solar) and more than 60 GW of electrolyser capacity. Also, to solve the current supply crisis, meet climate change mitigation objectives and ensure the security of supply and grid stability around 50 GW of renewable capacity with associated gas/battery/storage capacity. Eskom’s coal fleet capacity will decline from around 38.8 GW in March 2021 to 33.9 GW at the beginning of 2030 and 29.3 GW at the end of 2030. By the end of 2050, only the two youngest coal plants (Medupi and Kusile), and one unit of the older Majuba plant, will remain operational as currently envisaged.