SAWEA board member Mark Tanton
The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) says it supports the first-of-its-kind $8.5-billion green financing deal announced at the COP26 climate talks earlier in November.
SAWEA, on behalf of the wind power industry and South Africa’s broader renewable energy sector, says this deal – which comprises multi- and bilateral grants, concessional loans, guarantees and private investment – will provide impetus for South Africa’s accelerated uptake of green energy.
SAWEA board member Mark Tanton says the industry body views the wind power sector as a key implementer for South Africa to decarbonise its power sector and increase its energy availability.
“Hence, we look to the various policy makers within the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment; the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy; and the Department of Public Enterprises; to facilitate and lead this transition, which will no doubt be abetted by this financing deal.”
The funding package – committed by the UK, France, Germany, the US and the European Union – is intended to speed up South Africa’s transition away from coal and towards renewable energy, and represents a new model of green financing for emerging economies.
This forms part of the global Accelerating Coal Transition Investment Programme, formulated by the Climate Investment Funds. The programme is the first to target developing countries that lack adequate resources to finance the shift away from coal, which is crucial to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels by 2030.
“This makes sense as sustainable, cost effective financing is necessary to enable developing countries to be able to implement their climate change mitigation targets and accelerate the required energy transition away from carbon-intensive power production to renewable energy,” he says.
Tanton also reiterates that this announcement coincides with the expected Parliamentary tabling of South Africa’s Climate Change Bill in November.
While many details as to the structuring of the funds and exactly how it will be used are still to be ironed out, SAWEA notes there are a number of considerations. This includes what is referred to as the Just Energy Transition, which looks at the effect on people resulting from decommissioning coal-fired power stations, as well as Eskom’s need to upgrade and add new transmission lines and renew its distribution network to accommodate additional green electrons.
“In a nutshell, we need to remove [carbon dioxide] from the atmosphere as fast as possible, [and] at the same time we need to drastically increase our energy availability factor, so that we can bring a halt to the ongoing and crippling load-shedding,” he says.
Tanton notes that the answer to all of this is a “renewables-dominated power system, which is also the most cost-competitive system for South Africa”.