Samantha Graham-Maré, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy, has provided an update on the country’s ambitions to manufacture renewable energy components as part of its industrialization strategy.
The country seeks to position itself as a key supplier of renewable-energy components to the rest of Africa. The Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM) serves as a roadmap for stimulating domestic industrial activities aligned with South Africa’s deployment of solar PV, wind, and green hydrogen.
While acknowledging that competing with China in solar panel production is unrealistic, Graham-Maré emphasized South Africa’s potential to develop systems for manufacturing components used in the renewable energy sector.
SAREM has been in the approval process for over two years, but Graham-Maré indicated that it should be adopted within a month. If implemented, it could complement South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), which has already added over 7,000MW of solar and wind power to the national grid.
Source: Africa Oil & Gas Report
