Africa Oil & Power (AOP) is delighted to disclose that South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Hon. Gwede Mantashe and Deputy Minister Hon. Bavelile Hlongwa will be a part of a great line-up of African energy industry leaders and decision-makers on the AOP 2019 stage.
Welcoming the South African minister and deputy minister to the fourth annual AOP event in Cape Town, Africa Oil & Power CEO Guillaume Doane said: “South Africa’s energy profile is boosting, thanks in great part to policy reforms, industry privatization and a landmark offshore discovery earlier this year. The energy economy is steering away from coal and towards gas and renewable, a trend which we are very keen to feature at this year’s conference.”
AOP 2019 will build opportunities for investment and encourage intra-Africa cooperation across the oil, gas and power sectors, through the theme MakeEnergyWork.
The three-day AOP 2019 program will discuss key topics including the future of gas in Africa’s energy mix, exploration and production, the role of renewable energy in ending the power gap and project financing.Focusing specially on the developments in South Africa’s energy sector, AOP 2019 will cast a spotlight on the country’s exploration and production prospects, the evolution of the power sector – specifically in the Kwa-Zulu Natal and Northern Cape provinces – and unpack the country’s energy ideas expressed in the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).
The draft IRP proposes to implement 46 percent coal-generated power, 16 percent gas, 15 percent wind, 10 percent solar PV, 6 percent hydro, 4 percent pumped storage, 2.5 percent nuclear and 1 percent concentrated solar power and plans to supply an estimated 20,000 MW of the additional 29,000 MW electricity the country needs by 2030.
Although the IRP finalizes, the country is already seeing movement by public and private sector actors towards some of the plans expressed in the draft IRP. Transnet had announced its cost-sharing agreement with the International Finance Corporation last month to conclude a feasibility study for the development of LNG storage and regasification terminal in the Kwa-Zulu Natal and South Africa’s Strategic Fuel Find announced its tender for a refinery project in South Sudan.
On its shift towards clean power, the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) will continue to be instrumental in the country diversifying its energy mix, having already brought online 102 IPP projects from the four bid windows and over $17.5 billion in investments.
Key objective of an initiative making energy work, the REIPPPP has generated over 38,000 jobs and contributed generously to the national grid through projects including the country’s largest concentrated solar IPP project, the 100 MW Kathu Solar Park in the Northern Cape, the 135,8 MW Cookhouse Wind Farm in the Eastern Cape and the 135.5 MW Gounda Wind Farm in the Western Cape.
Resolute to find an energy solution that will meet the country’s needs, Minister Mantashe told members of parliament last month that the IRP would be confirmed soon and explained that “It is a summary of what we must do and gives us a framework to our approach to energy. We can’t lobby for any technology over the other. Our preoccupation is energy supply and security.”
