The Department of Energy (DoE) is confident that the review of the renewable energy White Paper of 2003 will be concluded by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

DoE spokesperson Bheki Khumalo tells Engineering News that the DoE team responsible for the review will submit a report or ‘Final draft: high-level renewable-energy policy’ by November 2010, and the document will then be released for public comment.




The review of the renewable energy White Paper will also take into consideration the developments that came about from the Integrated Resource Plan 2010 (IRP2010) process.

The White Paper initially outlined that 10 000 GWh of South Africa’s power should be derived from renewable energy by 2013; however, there have been numerous calls for this target to be increased substantially.




The 10 000-GWh target translates into about 4% of the country’s total electricity generation capacity. Energy Minister Dipuo Peters is confident that this target can be reached by 2013 and, perhaps, even surpassed.

Currently, government is working on the IRP2010, which is likely to sketch out the gene- ration mix expected over the next 20 years.

The IRP2010 document is expected to be published for public comment by October or early November.

Promulgation of the IRP2010 is expected in November 2010.

Peters also emphasises that the DoE will consider the benefits of all energy technologies, and cannot elevate wind power above, or at the expense of, other energy sources.

The build-up to the release of the IRP2010 has seen a number of organisations voicing their concerns and making recommendations on what they feel South Africa’s energy future could or should look like.

Addressing participants at a Mail & Guardian business breakfast recently, wind power developer Mainstream Renewable Power called on the South African government to set ambitious targets for renewable energy, as this would attract project developers and equipment manufacturers to participate in this market.

“Everything is driven off a vision,” emphasised Mainstream CEO Eddie O’Connor, adding that the target of 25% of South Africa’s power generation mix produced by renewable energy by 2025 – as proposed by the South African Wind Energy Association – was a good one.

O’Connor said that the role of government was fundamental and that it required decisiveness.

Setting an even more ambitious target, the World Wide Fund for Nature says that 50% of South Africa’s electricity can be produced by renewable-energy sources by 2030.

Mainstream is developing a wind farm at Jeffreys Bay, in the Eastern Cape, and has full planning permission for the first phase of 30 MW at the site.

Planning permission for 160 MW is expected imminently.

O’Connor added that, before construction of the wind farm could begin, the company would have to be certain that grid contracts were in place, as well as power purchase agreements.

He reiterated that the capital cost of a new coal-fired power station was the same as that of a wind farm.

“If you look at it over the long term, wind comes in at a fraction of the cost of coal,” said O’Connor, arguing that wind was free, as opposed to coal, which did not have a fixed price.

A future carbon tax could also leave the South African economy vulnerable, and provide the impetus for a transition to less-carbon- dioxide-emission-intensive power generation.

However, certain energy industry commentators noted that, because wind power had an availability of between 20% and 30%, one would have to build at least three times as much wind power for it to compare with the availability of coal-fired power.