Page 11 - AfrElec Week 18 2022

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

South Africa’s green

funding negotiator hopes

for model deal

SOUTH AFRICA THE head of a team negotiating for an $8.5bn November 2022.
climate finance deal to help South Africa switch “Initial discussions are taking place and as we
to cleaner energies says he and his colleagues go along we will be sharing with countries that
want the arrangement to be a model for other may be looking at similar programs,” he said.
coal-dependent nations. Prolonged electricity load shedding is com-
Africa’s most advanced economy is negotiat- mon in South Africa.
ing for the funding that was committed by the While the bulk of the funding is set to be
US, the UK, Germany, France and the European spent on the exit from coal, portions of it may
Union at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow be used to launch green hydrogen and electric
(Scotland) in November 2021. vehicle industries in the country.
The funding, likely to be in the form of grants “These are the three things which we are
and concessional loans over three to five years, going to tackle but it goes without saying that
would mainly be spent on projects to reduce electricity is the key priority area,” he said.
South Africa’s use of coal, the source of at least “But those other two areas will be developed in
80% of its electricity generation. parallel.”
“We are acutely aware that the eyes of the However, according to Bloomberg, the coun-
world are on us,” said Daniel Mminele, a former try’s Mineral Resources and Energy Minister,
central banker who was appointed to head the Gwede Mantashe, could slow progress given his
talks for South Africa in February, said Bloomb- February remarks on a local television channel
erg on Wednesday (April 4). that there must be no rush to ditch coal. The
“We would like to see it at best as a model or world’s top two polluting countries – China and
benchmark that can be emulated.” Australia – are not in a rush, he told Newzroom
The government says the country’s total Afrika.
electricity generation capacity is 58,095MW. Meanwhile, lead negotiator Mminele has said
More than 80% of the output is coal-fired, which that whatever deal will be agreed must not add
makes South Africa the world’s 13th-biggest to national power utility Eskom’s debt, estimated
emitter of greenhouse gases. at $25bn.
Funders are encouraged to support devel- “I doubt that we could proclaim success if
opment of cleaner energy plants, Mminele told we make it worse and add to what exists,” said
Bloomberg, by the need to replace the country’s Mminele.
aged coal-fired facilities, its advanced capital “The debt problems are part and parcel of
markets and government commitments to cut what the solution is meant to help address. Our
emissions. partners are well aware of that,” he observed.™
His team aims to announce considerable pro-
gress in time for the COP27 summit in Egypt in

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