Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is attending the South Africa-China Electricity & Energy Investment Conference, in Beijing, this week, where he has advocated for strategic partnerships and investment to secure South Africa's energy future, with opportunities underpinned by the Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) 2025.
He acclaimed that the IRP, approved late last year, articulated in the most comprehensive way, the various energy sources being pursued in South Africa, dealt with issues around emissions and sustainability and outlined the costs associated with each source.
The conference was part of the initiatives to execute and implement the plan, and the industrial capacity that the country was seeking to build on the back of it, Ramokgopa pointed out.
He described this as a “significant departure” from previous modes of interaction, with partners in the Global South instead seeking to build lasting infrastructure, industries and shared prosperity.
Ramokgopa said South Africa was at a decisive decade in its energy market transformation, with opportunities in generation and transmission, as well as for investors to shape the architecture of Africa’s future power system, given that the country was the gateway to the continent, and responsible for much of it power generation.
