The Department of Electricity and Energy (DEE) has called on partners and stakeholders who are part of South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM) value chains to comment on the latest proposals by the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) to raise tariffs and end staged consignments for identified renewable-energy components.

Some of these include fully assembled lithium batteries, solar panels, single-axis trackers, inverters, fasteners, wind tower sections and many more steel and auxiliary parts.

The Itac proposals were published by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau, on March 27.

Based on initial comment submissions, Itac, in its Gazette notice, has made various preliminary determinations.

It notes, however, that it has not yet made its final determination on any of the matters mentioned in the Gazette, and that the final determination will only be made once the commission has considered comments from members of the public on this “preliminary determination”.

While SAREM is led by the DEE, the department is working closely with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic).

“SAREM is intended to maximise local production of components that underpin South Africa's rapid roll-out of renewable energy across the public and private sectors.

“However, SAREM is a pragmatic, demand-led plan based on first promoting and protecting manufactured components on which we are already competitive,” Electricity and Energy Deputy Minister Samantha Graham-Maré says in a media statement.

She notes that, when the SAREM was adopted by Cabinet in March 2025, the local industry had already identified over 4 000 components that South Africa had existing capability and capacity to manufacture and scale up production as demand rose.

“To achieve this, as government, we need to provide a stable, enabling environment with predictable long-term demand, clear incentives and rational protections to drive investment.”

SAREM was developed and is being driven by a broad-based representation of government, public entities, business, industry associations, organised labour, nonprofit organisations and community representatives.

Graham-Maré says the issue of staged consignments has been thoroughly researched by the Local Content Compliance Unit (LCCU), a key initiative under the Steel Industry Compliance and Support Fund – a strong partnership between the dtic and the steel sector.

The Deputy Minister says staged consignments have been identified as a direct threat to existing manufacturing, noting that over 300 jobs in steel tower manufacturing in Atlantis, Cape Town, are directly threatened by staged consignments.

“We must protect investments in local manufacturing before talking about new manufacturing opportunities. Any measures taken must be carefully considered. I believe the current Itac proposals achieve this.”

Graham-Maré argues that maintaining sustainable local manufacturing in these existing components will assist in laying the foundation for future investment in new components.

Already, she notes, that the Localisation Support Fund has completed feasibility studies into vanadium redox flow batteries and lithium-iron-phosphate battery cell manufacturing.

“I welcome the proposals by Itac and would like to thank my colleagues in the Government of National Unity for the strong collaboration in this work.

“I would also like to thank the excellent work and collaboration between the DEE SAREM team, the dtic, Itac and the LCCU on this issue as a real step in advancing SAREM,” says Graham-Maré.

Stakeholders have until April 24 to comment on the proposals.