Eskom Crisis: President Cyril Ramaphosa Lifts Generation Threshold for Companies To 100MW

CHARLES MOLELE|

IN a surprise move, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that government will be amending Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act to increase the NERSA licensing threshold for embedded generation projects from 1 MW to 100 MW.

The president said the move will allow companies and independent power producers to produce their own electricity without a license to 100 MW and help address the country’s electricity crisis at Eskom, which has been weighing down economic growth and confidence for more than a decade.

In a national address to report on progress being made to implement the country’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan,  Ramaphosa said that the decision to increase the licence-exemption threshold to 100 MW is strategically aimed at facilitating investment by large electricity consumers, such as mines, factories and farms.

The move comes a day after Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) called on government to