South Africa\u2019s cabinet approved an updated Integrated Resource Plan \u2013 a blueprint for the development of electricity provision over the next two-and-a-half decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan underpins how the government will address the nation\u2019s energy crisis, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said in an online briefing Sunday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said it will be released at an unspecified date by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy for public comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The so-called IRP has two time horizons \u2013 one through 2030 and the other from 2030 to 2050, Ramokgopa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first timeframe will help the government ensure that \u201cwe are able to ameliorate the degree of the energy deficit that we are experiencing now,\u201d and anticipates that the South African authorities will need to \u201crethink the schedule\u201d for decommissioning power plants, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa\u2019s governing African National Congress in April approved plans by Ramokgopa to extend the use of Eskom\u2019s coal-fired plants earmarked for decommissioning in a bid to alleviate record electricity outages that have hobbled growth in Africa\u2019s most industrialised economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IRP\u2019s second time horizon focuses on renewable energy and \u201ctheir linkages to the availability of transmission infrastructure,” the minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nation\u2019s Presidential Climate Commission said in May that a review of the 2010-30 IRP should include 50 gigawatts to 60 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n