Plans by the South African government to rapidly increase gas procurement to help combat power blackouts are “harmful and expensive”, according to environmental and climate justice groups.
An alliance of groups wrote to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to complain about the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE) gas procurement plans.
The government plans to procure three gigawatts of gas or diesel-generated power were revealed in a notice in the Government Gazette, along with plans to procure power from renewable sources such as solar, wind and biomass.
The coalition of groups, which includes GroundWork, the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, Natural Justice, and the Centre for Environmental Rights, broadly welcomed plans to procure from renewable sources.
But they cited safety and environmental concerns when rejecting the plan to procure gas-generated power.
The groups said there had been insufficient public consultation over the procurement and that the proposal lacked information, least-cost planning and crucial impact assessments. They also said it was not in tune with South Africa’s energy needs and was illegal and unconstitutional because of unjustifiable harm posed by new gas development.
“South Africa… [is] extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Temperatures in the region are increasing at twice the rate of the global average,” the groups said in a statement.
“It is the government’s constitutional imperative to protect the people of South Africa against the impacts of climate change. This includes committing to the transition away from fossil fuels.”
The statement added that the government should not be aiding the development of new fossil fuel infrastructure.
Last week SM reported that beleaguered state power utility Eskom had launched three programmes to contract generators capable of supplying more than one megawatt (MW) of power to the grid.
It said it would also look to include smaller producers in future contracts, but hoped initially to procure around 1,000MW of power.
Eskom began cutting power to the grid to prevent its collapse earlier this month and analysts believe the situation will worsen.
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