South Africa‘s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has said that the country has more than 22,500 MW of renewable energy products in the pipeline.He said that upcoming projects are expected to bring around ZAR 400 billion in new private investment and create many jobs.
He noted the country’s largest-ever private solar energy project, which will add 256 MW to the grid with over 390,000 solar panels installed.
“We have seen, for example, how the Northern Cape has already attracted billions of rands of investment in renewable energy projects,” Ramaphosa said. “South Africa is undergoing a renewable energy revolution that is expected to be the most significant driver of growth and job creation in the next decade and beyond. We will see more of these projects taking shape across our country in the months and years to come. As these investments reach fruition more jobs will be created.”
The recent address was Ramaphosa’s first speech since forming a new coalition government. His African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in the May election, receiving less than 50% of the vote for the first time in South Africa’s democratic era.
In February, Ramaphosa said that South Africa had overcome the worst of its power shortages, due to tax incentives, investment, expansion of rooftop solar capacity, and new transmission lines.
Earlier this month, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa imposed a 10% import tariff on solar panels, a move questioned by the country’s leading industry association.
