Question NW3127 to the Minister in The Presidency for Electricity
06 October 2023 - NW3127
Yako, Ms Y to ask the Minister in The Presidency for Electricity
(1)Noting the positive reports regarding bringing units back from planned maintenance like Unit 4 in Kusile Power Station, the expected new capacity soontobe unleashed by Unit 5 and the successes of fuel gas desulphurisation plant for clean emissions, what is the point of pursuing the various bid windows for the unreliable renewable generators?
Reply:
The supply of South Africa’s energy demand is broadly determined by the energy mix as set out in The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2019. Based on the 2019 IRP, Coal constitutes 43% of installed capacity followed by Wind (22.53) Solar PV (10.5) CSP (0,76) Nuclear (2,36) and Gas and Diesel (8.1) Hydro (5.84).
Whilst the IRP is currently being reviewed, Coal, Nuclear and Gas is expected to continue to be significant contributors to SA’s base load demand in the foreseeable future, with investments in cleaner technologies to mitigate negative environmental impacts, coupled with and battery storage to neutralise and solar/wind hybrid solutions to stabilise the intermittency challenges of renewables.