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South Africa will not raise renewable goals

  • 14 years ago (2009-11-10)
  • David Flin
Africa 317 North America 1015 Renewables 767

When asked in Parliament whether the Government planned to increase the 10,000 GWh target, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said: “No. The department intends to meet the 2013 target in the short term while reviewing the Renewable Energy White Paper to determine medium- and long-term targets. Beyond 2013, the review process will be consultative and inputs from stakeholders and the general public will be taken into account in determining the next renewable energy target.”

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Earlier this month, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) approved renewable energy tariffs for additional forms of energy on top of the subsidies approved in March in a bid to encourage investment in the sector. The REFIT covers the cost of power generation and allows for a reasonable profit to tempt developers to invest in the sector.

The feed-in-tariffs have long been anticipated to stimulate large-scale investments, but South Africa has yet to sign a deal with one of the independent producers already putting money into renewables after the first phase of tariffs was announced in March. In October, developed and developing countries endorsed a Clean Technology Fund (CTF) funding envelope of $500 million for South Africa’s CTF Investment Plan (IP). The money will be used to help South Africa move closer to its vision of generating 4% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2013, improving energy efficiency by 12% by 2015, and providing 1 million households with solar water heating over the next five years.