The South African Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) proposes that South Africa should consider delaying the retirement of its ageing coal-fired power plants to address electricity shortages. The delay in decommissioning the coal plants is seen as a cost-effective approach that would not significantly impact the country's emissions reduction targets. South Africa needs to invest in building between 5 GW and 8 GW of renewable energy every year until at least 2030, while slowly decommissioning ageing coal-fired power plants at a reasonable pace.
The committee recommends prioritising renewable energy, solar-catered battery storage, and gas-fired peaking power plants running at low utilisation to address the crisis quickly and cost-effectively. The PCC proposes adding 50-60 GW of renewables and 3-5 GW of peaking support to the grid by 2030. The PCC's recommendations could be included in the upcoming energy-mix policy being reviewed in the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2019).
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