Johannesburg - The newly constituted Energy Crisis Committee held a briefing on Monday in Pretoria, promising to work hard towards reducing the severity and frequency of load shedding through immediate measures.
Mondli Gungubele, the minister in the presidency, said the committee was led by Phindile Baleni, the directors-general in the presidency.
The minister further revealed that the structure reports to an inter ministerial committee which will be chaired by the President.
The committee also included ministers from the Presidency, Mineral Resources and Energy, Public Enterprises, Finance, Forestry, fisheries and environment and Trade and Industries.
The energy crisis committee also echoed that all resources will be put to use to ensure that they do away with load shedding which has become the biggest constraint on the country’s energy security.
Gungubele said: “I must emphasise that achieving energy security is our single most important objective as a country to enable economic growth and job creation”.
Gungubele highlighted the plans and measures of the committee that their work was cut out for them. The ultimate goal for the committee, he said, was to work towards energy security so load shedding can end which was the long-term objective.
The short-term objectives include improving the performance of the existing power stations and adding as much generation capacity to the grid as quickly as possible. This, he said, would work to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding through immediate measures that will stabilise the energy system
“Our short-term objective is to reduce the severity and frequency of load shedding through immediate measures that will stabilise the energy system and our long-term objective is to end load shedding.
“Several options have already been taken to address the shortfall in security supply which is the main cause for load shedding. Some of these options include changes in regulations on new generation capacity to allow Municipalities to procure power independently as a result several municipalities are in the process of procuring extra power,” said Gungubele.
Other measures in motion included the revival of the renewable energy program which enabled 2205MW with the majority of that being used to supply to the grid, 6800 MW of Solar PV and wind power is being procured which will be connected to the grid from late 2023.
Other plans also include further procurement of energy through different bid windows.
IOL