In light of the fact that the contract awarded to Turkish firm, Karpowership, to provide 1,220MW of energy to the Republic has been stalled by legal action and environmental concerns from nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) which seem to naturally block development instead of encouraging responsible development, what has the Government done to positively bring the NGOs to the table and on board to avoid them pulling in opposite directions and preventing much-needed development?
In terms of the RFP issued for the Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme, the Bidders assume responsibility to obtain all environmental consents. As such it is the responsibility of Karpowership to engage with the NGOs as well as other Interested and Affected Parties with regard to objections that they may have in the process of the environmental authorisations aligned with the provisions of the ...
(a) What are the reasons that he withdrew the Gas Amendment Bill [B9-2021] on 8 September 2022 after the specified Bill was taken through public hearings in Parliament and (b) by what date does he intend to reintroduce the Bill?
a) The Bill was withdrawn to address the inputs received from stakeholders during the Parliamentary consultation processes. Additionally, the Department also considered other developments which have taken place in the gas industry over time. These were found to be crucial for reflexion in the legislation going forward.
b) The Bill will be introduced to Parliament after following the prescribed broad stakeholder consultation.
(1) Whether, considering that the National Environmental Management Act, Act 107 of 1998, and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations as amended (April 2017) require an EIA process through the compilation of a Basic Assessment Report (BAR) and Environmental Management Programme Report (EMPr) to apply for a prospecting and/or mining licence in accordance with certain Acts and regulations (details furnished), he will furnish Ms A M M Weber with the (a) mining licence and EIA and (b) EMPr for Portions 3, 11, 12 and 13 of Kernsig Twaalf Pty Ltd, in the Emakhazeni Local Municipality in Mpumalanga; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether he will furnish Ms A M M Weber with the (a) prospecting licence and BAR and (b) EMPr for Portions 28, 46, 72 and 73 of the farm Elandspruit 291 JS (DMRE Ref: MP 30/5/1/1/2/16326 PR) situated in the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, under the Middelburg Magisterial District in Mpumalanga; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) whether he will furnish Ms A M M Weber with the (a) mining permit and EIA and (b) EMPr for Portion 2 of the farm Elandspruit 291 JS (DMRE REF: MP 30/5/1/3/2/13516 MP) situated in the specified municipality in Mpumalanga; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
- The Department does not have any record of an application lodged by Kwernsig Twaalf (Pty) Ltd and the property description is incomplete.
- There is no prospecting licence or BAR issued for the said application as it is still in process.
- There is no Mining Permit or EIA issued for the said application as it is still in process.
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Whether the Government will subsidise rooftop solar panels for households and small , medium- and micro-enterprises, in line with the 4th mandate of the National Energy Crisis Committee to unleash businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
The National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM) resolution has already found expression in National Treasury announcement of allowing tax rebates in as far as rooftop solar installation by households and The Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME).
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(1) Whether, with reference to his reply to question 1501 on 2 October 2020, wherein he undertook to provide the location of the memorial to fallen miners, ordered and paid for in 2017 by the Mine Health and Safety Council (details furnished) and noting that to date, no location of the specified memorial has been provided, he will confirm if the monument has indeed been installed; if not, what are the reasons that the memorial has not been installed; if so, what are the relevant details of the address where the memorial may currently be viewed;
(2) whether, in view of the total amount of R 4 649 032,46 that was paid by his department to the service provider for the memorial, any additional money has been paid to the service provider; if not, what is the position in this regard; if, so, what total amount has been paid for the memorial to date?
1. The Mine health and Safety Council (MHSC) identified the Workers Museum and Mary Fitzgerald Square as the most appropriate locations to install the memorial for the fallen mineworkers. Permission to continue with the project on the site was given by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), then the project was initiated. However, the initial permission was not honoured as a result of the changes ...
Given that mining communities in the Mokopane Local Municipality are lamenting about a number of issues that have been raised with his department to no avail (details furnished), what (a) are the reasons that his department has failed to intervene and (b) is the department’s policy position in respect of such complaints that are not being addressed which drive such communities to take up drastic measures out of frustration for not being heard?
The department has been addressing and will continues to address all complaints brought forward, either from the mine communities or any other affected parties in this regard. Recently, the department was invited by Public Service Commission to participate in the Public Service Citizens Forum in Mogalakwena Local Municipality whereby, the communities of Mogalakwena were accorded an opportunity outline the challenges that they are experiencing ...
Given that the Republic’s energy grid relies heavily on coal and will continue to do so for some time, what (a) are the reasons that there is no budget for research and pilot programmes for clean coal technologies in the 2023-24 financial year and (b) partnerships exist between his department and other departments running similar research to ensure that clean coal technologies are incorporated into the energy generation methods going forward?
a) In the current year 2023/24, the focussed research on the clean coal technology intervention through the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) is undertaken through ring-fenced partnership funding between the South African government and the World Bank. It may be necessary to allocate a budget dedicated to this research in support of the just energy transition policy more sustainably.
b) The clean coal ...
What (a) is the current energy availability factor at Eskom and (b) measures has his department put in place to increase the energy availability factor to beyond 73% as presented by Eskom to avoid a total collapse of the grid that is predicted?
Energy Availability Factor is currently around 50%. This is a dynamic number highly dependent on operations. Department of Public Enterprises who oversees Eskom operations could provide you with updates regularly on EAF and their respective plans to increase plant availability upon request. In line with the 2019 IRP, we are continuing with procurement of additional MW to augment energy generation capacity pursuant to security ...
Whether the incentive-based (R/MWh) demand response mechanism has been launched alongside the national campaign to introduce the set of actions to address load shedding and achieve energy security as announced by the President of the Republic ,Mr M C Ramaphosa in his address to the nation on 25 July 2022; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details surrounding the implementation of the campaigns?
Yes, Eskom has launched a number of incentive-based demand side response mechanism customised for different market segments. This is over and above the long standing DMRE lead demand side tax incentive scheme pursuant to Income Tax Regulation12L. Department of Public Enterprises who oversees Eskom operations would be willing to provide you more information in respect of their programmes should you request.
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Whether he will furnish Mr W F Faber with a comprehensive breakdown of the procurement allocation of (a) his department and (b) every entity reporting to him in terms of the percentages allocated to (i) small-, medium- and micro-enterprises, (ii) cooperatives, (iii) township enterprises and (iv) rural enterprises with a view to evaluating the effectiveness of the set-aside policy of the Government in fostering an inclusive and diverse economic landscape (details furnished) in the (aa) 2021-22 financial year and (bb) since 1 April 2023?
Department of Minerals Resource and Energy
(aa) Total procurement for 2021/2022 financial year amounted to R1 168 164 849,84 of which R278 887 344,36 was spent on SMMEs.
(i) Percentage allocated to SMMEs = 24% (R278 887 344.36)
➢ Qualifying small enterprises = 7% (R77 835 797.00)
➢ Exempted Micro Enterprises = 17% (R201 051 547.36)
(ii) Cooperatives = 0%
(iii) Township enterprises = ...
