South Africa: IRP Will Be Submitted To Cabinet Before October Ending—Mantashe

South Africa’s much-awaited Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) is expected to be submitted to the Cabinet for deliberation and approval before the end of October 2023, according to the sector minister, Gwede Mantashe.

The Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) informs South Africa’s energy planning by specifying which generation technologies would be used to meet demand.

Speaking to the press after addressing participants at the Africa Oil Week in Cape Town, Mantashe said proposals for the IRP are being developed based on mathematical modelling.

He did not say whether certain energy generation technologies would be included or excluded, as that would be “putting the cart before the horse.

“I can tell you that it will be a multi-pathway IRP that we will see,” he said.

The current IRP 2019 maps out South Africa’s energy planning up to 2030.

Asked when the 2023 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) would be ready and if reports that wind energy would be excluded from the plan were true, Mantashe said to suggest a specific form of energy technology would be excluded before the plan is presented to the cabinet was to make “assumptions”.

“We have completed a model for the IRP. We are now composing a proposal. To say something will be excluded will be putting the cart before the horse. There will be a public consultation process and it will be a multifaceted set of proposals and consultation.”

The Minister also remarked that the department is ready to issue Bid Window 7 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme but said Eskom is not ready.

“Eskom must give assurance that they have an offtake agreement with us,” he said.

Secondly, Eskom must also ensure it has transmission capacity.

“If we do not get that from Eskom, we are in big trouble.”

The government was unable to award bids for wind projects in round six of the REIPPPP owing to grid constraints.

The current grid constraints are due to an unpredictable surge in renewables, happening much faster than planned, Eskom’s strategic grid planning manager, Ronald Marais told wind energy industry players at a conference last week.

Currently, the National Energy Crisis Committee has a workstream set up to deal with grid capacity constraints as well as potential financing solutions for grid expansion.