Electricity and Control June 2020

ENERGY MANAGEMENT + THE INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT

Call to lift limitations on private power generation The solar industry, through the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) which represents 320 member organisations in the sector, has written an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling on the President to remove limitations to private power generation – as a way of supporting efforts to kick-start the economy post Covid-19.

C hairperson of SAPVIA Mr Wido Schnabel writes: “We are living in unprecedented times when our economic systems, our relationship with nature and our resilience as a global community are tested – all at once. We commend you Mr President, on the leadership you have shown and the difficult decisions taken to delay the spread of Covid-19, hopefully giving our healthcare systems enough time to prepare for a peak in infections. “Tough yet necessary restrictions on trading, social gatherings, and travel have dealt a massive blow to our fragile economy. To recover from the economic impact of the pandemic, we agree with you Mr President that we need a ‘new social compact’ to ‘forge a new economy’. We agree that ‘we can no longer work in the way we have before’ and it’s time to ‘adjust to a new reality’. We stand with you in your resolve to build an inclusive economy. In order to achieve this goal, we call on your government to relax certain electricity regulations that have made it difficult for businesses in our sector to grow and create jobs.

“Our economic recovery depends on the sustainable, affordable and reliable supply of energy.” He goes on to say: “As an industry, we support both the state-run utility model and the integration of Distributed Generation methodologies… The Distributed Generation approach provides additional capacity to the grid, promotes broad-based participation in the energy sector, and aligns with the tenets of a just energy transition. Distributed Generation plays a strategic role in balancing the country’s sustainable development needs with employment security.” To assess the potential of the sector to create jobs, SAPVIA partnered with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Schnabel notes: “The study showed there are about 400 SMMEs (and growing) in the Distributed Generation space with the potential to create more than 100 000 jobs over the next 10 years. Unfortunately, the growth of the Distributed Generation market has been stymied by three factors linked to

Solar PV installations supplement the power supply with clean energy – at Chamdor Brewery in Gauteng and Ibhayi Brewery in the Eastern Cape.

14 Electricity + Control JUNE 2020