Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe
Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday that he tabled the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) before a Cabinet committee meeting on Wednesday and that he was confident it would be approved at next week's Cabinet meeting.
Speaking to delegates at the Oil and Power Conference in Cape Town on Thursday morning, Mantashe said once the latest version of the IRP is gazetted, policy certainty would begin to set in for investors in the energy sector.
The IRP describes the state's plan for future energy generation, including projected electricity demand, cost estimates, and from what sources power will be generated. It will outline the state's thinking on the decommissioning of coal power stations, the role of nuclear power, and the growth of renewable energy. It is expected to be based, largely, on a draft plan published for comment in 2018.
However, the document's gazetting has been delayed for years after a failure to strike consensus with industry and labour.
Mantashe said he briefed the Cabinet Committee on the latest version of the document.
"Yesterday we tabled the IRP to the Cabinet Committee. Once we have the IRP in place, I can assure you that we will be able to secure policy certainty. Next week, I am confident that it will be approved then gazetted and we will have investors reassured of our policy framework," said Mantashe.
Mantashe said South Africa, as well as the rest of the African continent, needed to speak with one voice where policy was concerned if it hoped to draw the kind of investment which would bring about growth, development and industrialisation of African nations.