JOHANNESBURG, April 13 (Xinhua) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday that the country is implementing wide-ranging reforms in the electricity sector aimed at enabling private investment in power generation and accelerating the procurement of new generation capacity from solar, wind, gas and battery storage.
The lack of reliability in electricity supply weakens business and consumer confidence, taints international perceptions about South Africa, and affects investment sentiment and decisions, Ramaphosa said in his opening address at the 5th South Africa Investment Conference, which opened in Johannesburg on Thursday.
“One of the reforms regarding the removal of the licensing threshold for embedded generation has facilitated considerable private investment. This reform, together with measures to streamline regulatory processes, has enabled a surge of new projects with the pipeline of committed projects now representing over 10,000 MW of new capacity,” he said.
South Africa has also introduced tax incentives for households and businesses to invest in rooftop solar, according to the president, who noted that several municipalities are making use of regulatory changes to procure power independently.
Ramaphosa said through the renewable energy program, they have signed agreements for approximately 2,800 MW, with several large projects already in construction and others on track to reach financial close.
“Though load shedding will remain a challenge in the immediate future, its severity will begin to ease as some of the more targeted initiatives recently announced begin to take effect,” he said.