By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept

News Junction

Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
    White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
    May 13, 2025
    Trump’s Mideast Wish List: + Trillion in Investments – and Some Diplomacy Too
    Trump’s Mideast Wish List: $1+ Trillion in Investments – and Some Diplomacy Too
    May 13, 2025
    Djokovic-Murray coaching partnership ends before French Open | Tennis News
    Djokovic-Murray coaching partnership ends before French Open | Tennis News
    May 13, 2025
    Brussels seeks to sideline Hungary on Russia sanctions renewal – FT — RT World News
    Brussels seeks to sideline Hungary on Russia sanctions renewal – FT — RT World News
    May 13, 2025
    Investment banks lift China growth outlook after surprise trade deal with U.S.
    Investment banks lift China growth outlook after surprise trade deal with U.S.
    May 13, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    August 18, 2024
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    August 18, 2024
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    August 18, 2024
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    August 18, 2024
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    August 18, 2024
  • Cryptocurrency
    CryptocurrencyShow More
    How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
    How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
    May 13, 2025
    South Korea’s Democratic Party sets up ‘Digital Asset Committee’
    South Korea’s Democratic Party sets up ‘Digital Asset Committee’
    May 13, 2025
    Curve DAO (CRV) price drops as Curve Finance battles DNS attack
    Curve DAO (CRV) price drops as Curve Finance battles DNS attack
    May 13, 2025
    Best crypto to buy: XRP, ADA and Bitcoin Pepe
    Best crypto to buy: XRP, ADA and Bitcoin Pepe
    May 13, 2025
    2025 Cloud Mining Gold Rush: 5 Platforms That Pay While You Sleep
    2025 Cloud Mining Gold Rush: 5 Platforms That Pay While You Sleep
    May 13, 2025
  • Technology
    TechnologyShow More
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    August 18, 2024
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    August 18, 2024
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    August 18, 2024
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    August 18, 2024
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    August 18, 2024
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Reading: The ‘fly in the ointment’ in government’s Energy Action Plan
Share
Font ResizerAa

News Junction

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Trend
  • Entertainment
Search
  • Recent Headlines in Entertainment, World News, and Cryptocurrency – NewsJunction
  • World News
  • Business
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
News Junction > Blog > Business > The ‘fly in the ointment’ in government’s Energy Action Plan
The ‘fly in the ointment’ in government’s Energy Action Plan
Business

The ‘fly in the ointment’ in government’s Energy Action Plan

Published August 1, 2023
Share
10 Min Read
SHARE

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

JEREMY MAGGS: In the weekly president’s [Cyril Ramaphosa] letter, it’s claimed that after a year since launching the Energy Action Plan [EAP] to resolve the load shedding crisis, there has been significant progress in several areas. So my question is, is that entirely accurate?

So let’s turn to energy analyst now, Hilton Trollip. Hilton, a very warm welcome to you. So as you watch this, what key steps have been taken in this plan, and do you accept the fact that there has been significant progress?

HILTON TROLLIP: Good afternoon, Jeremy. Thanks for inviting me to share my analysis. I’m sitting here with the president’s letter in front of me. He says, we are now able to report significant progress. His next sentence is, today we are releasing a detailed report. I have searched everywhere, no such report. I do boring things that scientists do. I then read word by word through these kinds of things, and I look for facts.

So the government announced, the president announced an action plan last July. In January, they gave us a very good report on progress in the action plan, which mainly had a whole lot of plans.

If you read through the president’s letter, one would expect that his speech writer would’ve found every tiny little thing significant that has been added to the grid. I’ve found one action that’s been done.

The rest remains, it’s a plan-plan. They’re going to do things. They were going to do a whole lot of stuff last July. They were going to do a whole lot of stuff in January, and they’re still going to do a whole lot of stuff. The only significant thing that government has done, or a government entity, Eskom has found close to 400 megawatts from companies with extra capacity.

Read/listen:
Eskom reckons there’s 4 400MW of rooftop solar installed in SA
Koeberg: Electricity minister ‘worried and extremely upset’
What is going on at Koeberg?

The rest is all still plan, plan, plan, plan, future, future promise, promise and so on. Except for the other big area where there’s been a lot of progress, remember the president through his Operation Vulindlela twisted Gwede Mantashe’s [Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy] arm, according to Gwede, in other words, forced him to exempt private buyers of independent power, those IPPs from needing licenses.

As we know, there has been a storm of private IPPs onto the grid, a pipeline of ten gigawatts of projects.

So what the government has done is it’s unleashed the private sector to look after itself and I’m so glad that it is. I do want to point out a problem though, we have a public power sector, and it needs to balance the supply on the public grid. The private sector has rushed in to buy lots of PV, photovoltaics. That’s during the day.

Storage

We need a balanced supply. We need storage.

The private sector will make sure it’s got storage for its own operations, batteries and so on. But at nighttime, unless we have lots of wind to balance the PV, which happens most of the year, by the way, it’s very seldom that the wind isn’t blowing, and the sun is not shining.

Unless the public sector comes to the party, and the only way that can happen is Gwede Mantashe’s department has to implement the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme [Reippp].

Bid Window 6 was a failure, Bid Window 5 is in trouble. Bid Window 7, announced for the end of March initially, hasn’t happened, then it was announced for the end of July. Today is August 1. That’s Gwede Mantashe’s brief.

Read:
Rampahosa gives electricity minister power procurement role
SA weighs mega renewable-energy tender to curb outages
Mantashe sees low appetite for private power
Time running out to salvage 23 rejected wind energy projects

JEREMY MAGGS: Hilton, let me ask you this question. Given that government cannot abrogate all responsibility for power generation to the private sector. In terms of this Energy Action Plan, after 12 months what then should have construed some kind of significant progress, to use the president’s words?

HILTON TROLLIP: Thanks for that excellent question, Jeremy. What should have happened is the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy should have done two things. One, it should have had another bid window, but that bid window would need to cooperate hand in glove with Eskom, which supplies the grid capacity for the independent power producers.

So why Bid Window 6 failed was that what happened is while it was running, the licencing requirement was lifted and the private sector, because it moves fast, took up a lot of the capacity, but there’s still lots of capacity on the grid.

So what has to happen, what should have happened between last July and today, Gwede Mantashe’s department should have invited another bid round, bid round seven, but they should have dealt with the problems that they experienced in bid round six.

Jeremy, I can tell you, we got ten gigawatts of the private sector just jumping onto the system. They lined up with finance and projects.

Read: Private sector to invest another R50bn in renewables

They would also quickly take up a public sector programme, and there we can say what has to go on there, storage, wind, possibly some extra gas-fired peakers and so on, for a balanced system. But on Gwede Mantashe’s version, he told this to an ENCA interview, I listened with my own ears, not reported, [to Thulasizwe Simelane] on ENCA last year, Gwede Mantashe said the president can do renewables.

Although he is the only person that can do it in terms of the National Energy Regulator Act, he’s the only person powered to do it. He hasn’t, and that is the fly in the ointment.

JEREMY MAGGS: Hilton, just one final brief answer, if you don’t mind. The president also alludes to the return to service of units at the mega power stations, Kusile and Medupi. Could this be construed as significant progress? Is that going to impact more positively the overall capacity of the grid, do you think?

HILTON TROLLIP: It will, if it’s successful, Jeremy.

JEREMY MAGGS: And you have doubts?

HILTON TROLLIP: No, I don’t really have doubts, but if you go on past performance, there are challenges. So the organisation that’s doing that is Eskom. Eskom is beleaguered by corruption, mismanagement and morale problems. On their own version too, because of what’s happened there over the past ten years. So we are seeing a lot of problems. I’ve gone into this in depth with other interviews, but Eskom is battling to manage big projects.

Remember, the Kusile units being offline to start with, is that they built Kusile and it broke down immediately. It was a big chimney failure.

So the same people who built something that broke just after it was finished, seven years late, are busy fixing it, and I really wish them the best of luck. I hope we’ve got the best engineers we can find in the world there. But if you were the best engineer in the world, would you go and pitch up at Kusile if you’re going be pushed around by a whole lot of cadre deployment people and corruption and, and, and, and if you just step out of line a bit too much, get attacked from the outside by high-level politicians and fired.

JEREMY MAGGS: Always appreciate the blunt assessment, Hilton Trollip, thank you very much indeed.

#fly #ointment #governments #Energy #Action #Plan

TAGGED:actionenergyflygovernmentsointmentplan
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Whatsapp Whatsapp LinkedIn Email Copy Link Print
Share
What do you think?
Love0
Sad0
Happy0
Sleepy0
Angry0
Dead0
Wink0
Previous Article Women’s World Cup roundup: Lauren James lifts England over China Women’s World Cup roundup: Lauren James lifts England over China
Next Article Myanmar junta cuts six years from Suu Kyi’s 33-year jail term Myanmar junta cuts six years from Suu Kyi’s 33-year jail term
- Advertisement -

Latest Post

How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
How to Use tsUSDe on TON for Passive Dollar Yield in 2025
Cryptocurrency
White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
White South Africans arrive in US after Trump administration granted them refugee status | World News
World News
South Korea’s Democratic Party sets up ‘Digital Asset Committee’
South Korea’s Democratic Party sets up ‘Digital Asset Committee’
Cryptocurrency
Trump’s Mideast Wish List: + Trillion in Investments – and Some Diplomacy Too
Trump’s Mideast Wish List: $1+ Trillion in Investments – and Some Diplomacy Too
World News
Curve DAO (CRV) price drops as Curve Finance battles DNS attack
Curve DAO (CRV) price drops as Curve Finance battles DNS attack
Cryptocurrency
Best crypto to buy: XRP, ADA and Bitcoin Pepe
Best crypto to buy: XRP, ADA and Bitcoin Pepe
Cryptocurrency
- Advertisement -

You Might Also Like

California Nonprofit Hospitals Turn to Bankruptcy for Leverage Against State
Business

California Nonprofit Hospitals Turn to Bankruptcy for Leverage Against State

July 30, 2023
Tips for a Fun Gambling Session with Just  – Insights Success
Business

Tips for a Fun Gambling Session with Just $20 – Insights Success

February 1, 2024
SMEs need to place user experience at the heart of their digital strategy
Business

SMEs need to place user experience at the heart of their digital strategy

August 10, 2023
Githu Muigai, two top lawyers make Africa award list
Business

Githu Muigai, two top lawyers make Africa award list

August 16, 2023

About Us

NEWS JUNCTION (NewsJunction.xyz) Your trusted destination for global news. Stay informed with our timely and accurate reporting on diverse topics, including politics, technology, science, entertainment, sports, and more. Count on us for unbiased and reliable updates at your fingertips.

Quick Link

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact

Top Categories

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Sports News
  • Trend
  • People

Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

    © 2023 News Junction.
    • Blog
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    Welcome Back!

    Sign in to your account

    Username or Email Address
    Password

    Lost your password?