Mantashe open to meeting with opposition to seek short-term solutions to power crisis

MINERAL Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has described as “constructive” a proposal by the opposition Democratic Alliance for a meeting to discuss short-term solutions to the country’s ongoing load-shedding crisis.

In his Budget Vote address, Mantashe outlined the initiatives his department was taking to ensure that new capacity was added and to close what Eskom estimates to be a 4 000 MW to 6 000 MW immediate shortfall.

These included the conclusion, by September, of the procurement of 2 600 MW of wind and solar capacity following Bid Window Five (BW5) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, finalising the procurement of up to 2 000 MW under the much-delay and controversial Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme and launching B6 for a further 2 600 MW of renewable electricity.

Mantashe also reconfirmed that request for proposal documentation was being prepared for a 513 MW storage programme, a 3 000 MW gas-to-power scheme, a