Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy, Samantha Graham-Maré, says energy generation to deal with load shedding is the government’s priority.

Graham-Maré was speaking to SABC News on the sidelines of the Africa Energy Forum in Cape Town on Friday.

It was after a closed session on Energy Justice and Africa’s Role in Decarbonisation. The session concluded that decarbonisation cannot be implemented at the expense of energy security.

She says. “So our first priority in South Africa is energy security, and beyond that, we can start to have conversations, and we are quite prepared to make sure that everything we do corresponds to our commitments to climate change.”

“ As I said earlier, we have seen a lot of lives during the flooding in the Eastern Cape. We can’t afford climate shocks as well, but we have to make sure that everything we do is done with South Africa in mind, we have to make sure we take our people along with us.”

Graham-Maré adds, “ We have to make sure that any move in terms of decarbonisation doesn’t result in job losses but in fact we actually generate new jobs-uplifting our people and building an economy on the back of a strong economy.”

Energy transmission

Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST) Co-director, Prof Mark Swilling, says the development of an energy transmission in the country is expected to cost about R 400 billion over the next 10 years.

This is to unlock transmission infrastructure, including investment in the industrialisation of renewable energy production.

Swilling says the energy transmission projects will be public-private partnership programmes and will be financed by both sectors.

He says, “The special development plan which makes provisions for 14 400 km of new lines plus sub-stations over the next 10 years will cost about R 400 billion. It’s the biggest infrastructure project since 1994. There is funding for the first couple of years. “

Swilling says, “The government equity injection to Eskom has helped to do that, but the national transmission company needs to be able to borrow more, but also bring inthe  private sector into the component of the infrastructure built programme.”

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