Gwede Mantashe, minister of mineral resources & energy, said on Friday that SA had to ensure the security of its energy supply through gas, nuclear and coal resources even as it transitions to low-carbon emissions.
Mantashe told a national energy dialogue there was a need to address “energy poverty in the country. In other words, we must ensure the security of the energy supply in the country as we move from high carbon emission to low carbon emission.”
SA should avoid becoming an “island of angels” that drifts “into poverty” through focusing only on renewable energy while disregarding resources such as oil, coal and gas.
He said fuel giant Shell had been “harassed” out of exploring for gas and oil off the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast. A discovery of oil had recently been made off the coast of Namibia.
“Everybody else must explore for gas, must explore for oil, but when there is a fight between Ukraine and Russia, the price of oil goes through the roof, meaning those fossil fuels are going to be part of our development for many years to come.”
A just transition is not just a pendulum swing from coal to renewables
— Gwede Mantashe
Mantashe said the government was committed to the transition to low carbon emissions, but it had to secure the power baseload, citing countries such as France that depend on nuclear power for their baseload.
He said fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas were globally considered part of the energy supply to be used during the transition. “A just transition is not just a pendulum swing from coal to renewables.”
Mantashe said the coal industry employed about 89,000 people.
But Gray Maguire, carbon project manager for Climate Neutral Group SA, said during panel discussions that all jobs needed to be taken into account.
“Agriculture employs more than twice as many people as the whole mining sector combined. Coal employs 80,000 people now. Back in the 1980s it employed 140,000 people. It is a dying industry.
“Platinum, on the other hand, which is being fuelled by renewable energy growth — [through] catalytic converters — has overtaken coal in terms of export earnings, in terms of total value to the South African economy.
“There are many more jobs in the economy outside of coal and how many of them are at risk as a result of us undermining our export capabilities? Those jobs we need to discuss.”
Mantashe said SA's Integrated Resource Plan advocates the pursuit of an energy mix, including renewables (wind and solar), gas, nuclear, coal, hydro and battery storage.
He said between now and 2030 renewable energy will receive the “lion’s share” for new energy generation capacity. This includes 14,400MW for wind, 6,000MW for photovoltaic or solar energy, 2,088MW for battery storage and 2,500MW for hydro.
He said SA had committed to procure more energy through additional bid windows for independent power producers — 2,600MW under the latest bid window 7 — at six-month intervals. Bid windows 5 to 7 will add about 7,800MW of energy from renewables to the grid.
This would address “the current shortfall of about 4,000MW of electricity announced by the president in 2022”.
Alex Lenferna, climate justice campaigner for 350.org and secretary of the Climate Justice Coaliton, said the “climate science is clear” and that the guide must be to “move away from fossil fuels — coal, oil, gas — as fast as possible, otherwise the sort of future we leave behind is one that is ravaged by climate chaos”.
• The energy dialogue was hosted by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) group of companies and the Financial Mail.
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