The South African president has presented the ZAR500bn (US$30bn) South African Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. The plan, which accounts for 10% of GDP, aims to expedite the recovery of South Africa’s economy that was deeply affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government intends to rapidly expand power generation capacity, by accelerating the implementation of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). The IRP is expected to increase in the contribution of renewable energy sources, battery storage and gas technology, bringing around 11,800 MW of new generation capacity into the system by 2022. More than half of this energy will be generated from renewable sources. In addition, the government is currently finalising agreements with independent power producers (IPPs) to connect 2,000 MW of additional capacity from existing projects by June 2021. Finally, the Risk Mitigation Power Procurement Programme should unlock a further 2,000 MW of emergency supply within 12 months.