Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) director-general Advocate Thabo Mokoena reports that government intends using the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM), which is currently being drafted, to position the country as a “globally significant” producer of inputs used in renewable-energy plants.
In a keynote address to the virtual Enlit Africa conference on Tuesday, Mokoena said the SAREM would help “coordinate the renewable-energy requirements” to support such an industrialisation drive and to boost manufacturing employment.
The DMRE, together with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, was currently prioritising the establishment of a multi stakeholder SAREM executive oversight committee, which would guide and champion industrialisation across renewables value chains.
Speaking during a recent webinar hosted to coincide with the six-month countdown to the upcoming COP26 climate talks, to be held in Scotland in November, Green Cape’s Francis Jackson said that, once convened, the committee would be able to confirm the target timeline for finalising of the plan and its adoption.
In a keynote address to the virtual Enlit Africa conference on Tuesday, Mokoena said the SAREM would help “coordinate the renewable-energy requirements” to support such an industrialisation drive and to boost manufacturing employment.
The DMRE, together with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, was currently prioritising the establishment of a multi stakeholder SAREM executive oversight committee, which would guide and champion industrialisation across renewables value chains.
Speaking during a recent webinar hosted to coincide with the six-month countdown to the upcoming COP26 climate talks, to be held in Scotland in November, Green Cape’s Francis Jackson said that, once convened, the committee would be able to confirm the target timeline for finalising of the plan and its adoption.
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He indicated that, historically, the yearly South Africa Investment Conference had been an opportunity for masterplans to be announced, but stressed that this did not preclude prior adoption should the plan be endorsed ahead of the conference, scheduled for early November.
“The present focus is the establishment of the executive oversight committee as well as the research and consultation phase.
“Inputs from the research and consultations are contributing to an emerging set of opportunities, barriers and bottlenecks and trade-offs.
“These require the executive oversight committee’s engagement to take to the next level of prioritising levers to unlock them,” Jackson told Engineering News separately.
A matrix of value-chain elements was being considered, with priority being given to those primary materials, components and subcomponents used in the manufacture and assembly of the renewables technologies outlined in the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 (IRP2019), including solar photovoltaic (PV), wind and battery storage.
“Care is being taken to ensure that the perspectives of global value-chain players eyeing the market for investment in local production capacity, as well as incumbent local manufacturers’ perspectives, are represented in the problem-solving.”
MANUFACTURING OPPORTUNITY
Value-chain elements have not yet been “strategically prioritised”, but the objective is to outline a rational sequencing of support that harnesses “the low-hanging fruit that catalyse related value-chain elements”.
“For example, wind turbine towers and blades are obvious primary component opportunities, should procurement and project pipeline certainty be clear,” Jackson outlines, adding that the integration of local components in nacelle assembly could grow over time.
Read more.......
“The present focus is the establishment of the executive oversight committee as well as the research and consultation phase.
“Inputs from the research and consultations are contributing to an emerging set of opportunities, barriers and bottlenecks and trade-offs.
“These require the executive oversight committee’s engagement to take to the next level of prioritising levers to unlock them,” Jackson told Engineering News separately.
A matrix of value-chain elements was being considered, with priority being given to those primary materials, components and subcomponents used in the manufacture and assembly of the renewables technologies outlined in the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 (IRP2019), including solar photovoltaic (PV), wind and battery storage.
“Care is being taken to ensure that the perspectives of global value-chain players eyeing the market for investment in local production capacity, as well as incumbent local manufacturers’ perspectives, are represented in the problem-solving.”
MANUFACTURING OPPORTUNITY
Value-chain elements have not yet been “strategically prioritised”, but the objective is to outline a rational sequencing of support that harnesses “the low-hanging fruit that catalyse related value-chain elements”.
“For example, wind turbine towers and blades are obvious primary component opportunities, should procurement and project pipeline certainty be clear,” Jackson outlines, adding that the integration of local components in nacelle assembly could grow over time.
Read more.......
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