South African Breweries (SAB) on Monday published a call for a clear process to be implemented with regard to generation licence applications above 10 MW, which it says will assist the company in achieving its sustainability vision.
The company welcomed the government’s commitment in this year’s State of the Nation Address that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa will process applications for the self-generation of electricity in excess of 1 MW within 120 days.
In a newspaper advertisement, the company highlights that industry “needs the ability” to on-sell electricity to other users on the grid; in turn, reducing the need to draw off the current grid and freeing up power for communities.
“We cannot stop the future from arriving, therefore time is of the essence. We believe the faster industry is able to self-generate electricity using off-site facilities, the faster the economy as a whole is able to recover,” SAB comments.
SAB also aims to foster partnerships with energy regulators and government to provide long-term certainty on wheeling tariffs that will support private sector companies, to have the ability to generate power off-site.
SAB has set the goal of sourcing 100% of its purchased electricity from renewable energy sources and achieving a 25% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions across its value chains by 2025.
Since announcing this goal, the South African brewery company has made strides towards achieving this target with the installation of on-site solar at each of its seven breweries, which will provide up to 15% of its electricity needs.
However, in order to go further on this journey, SAB says that it needs to ensure that it, together with its partners, is able to tackle “what is perhaps one of the greatest threats to the economy and the planet”.