Replacing South Africa’s ageing electricity generation capacity with renewable plants is an opportunity to spur economic growth, the head of a presidential climate change commission said.
Browsing: Cyril Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa extended a nighttime curfew and reduced the permissible size of public gatherings to contain the spread of the coronavirus after a surge in infections.
The government has once again failed to meet its self-imposed deadline, set by transport minister Fikile Mbalula, to make an announcement on the future of the controversial e-toll system.
South Africa plans to lift the licensing threshold for small-scale power generation projects to 10MW from 1MW, a boost to firms anxious to curb their reliance on the ailing Eskom, but industry experts had hoped for more.
South Africa has several advantages that make it an attractive destination for business services, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter, published on Monday.
The decreasing performance of the existing Eskom plants is evident in the steady decline of the energy availability factor. On average, 35% of Eskom’s power plants are standing idle at any particular time.
South Africa’s Infrastructure Fund, which is spearheading government efforts to secure R1-trillion of private investment, said it has identified a project pipeline and implementation could begin by year-end.
South Africa signalled a shift in budgetary policy, backtracking on planned tax increases as it switched focus to reigniting the coronavirus-battered economy by bolstering consumption and investment.
Even with the 15.63% tariff hike to be implemented on 1 April, Eskom considers its electricity tariffs to be far from cost-reflective. Yet further big price hikes will mean alternative sources of energy become more viable.
Communications & digital technologies minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has promised to speed up the digital migration project, which will lead to a complete analogue switch-off in March 2022.