Brakes on nuclear spend, gas in the mix

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan also backed Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson in her efforts to have the nuclear deal overseen by the independent power producers’ procurement office, which falls within her department.

In this, Gordhan sided with Joemat-Pettersson and DA MP Gordon Mackay against the preferences of ANC MP and portfolio committee on energy chairman Fikile Majola and ANC MP Tandi Mahambehlala, who disagreed.

Treasury’s chief director for state-owned entities oversight, Avril Halstead, yesterday said that no more money had been added to the R200-million announced in October last year for research into the feasibility of nuclear development.

Halstead said the amount to be budgeted for nuclear new build would depend on the findings of research into its viability.

She said those findings would inform whether South Africa continued with its plans to build nuclear power stations with the ability to provide 9600MW to the national grid, whether those plans were scaled down and whether they happened at all.

She echoed Joemat-Pettersson’s call, made on Tuesday to the parliamentary portfolio committee on energy, to shift the focus to gas and new coal-powered stations which were smaller than Medupi and Kusile in size, to provide both base load and peak-time power.

Halstead emphasised that major gas discoveries, notably in Mozambique, had made gas a much more economically realistic energy source than a few years ago.

In his budget speech, Gordhan said the independent power producers programme would be extended to include gas and coal power projects over the period ahead.

These programmes will be based on the successes of the independent power producers programme for renewable energy, which will shortly bring the total number of new renewable energy projects adding to the national power grid to more than a hundred.

This has been hailed as a noteworthy success worldwide.