[pic]
Ref: 02/1/5/2
MINISTER
QUESTION NO. 659 FOR WRITTEN REPLY: NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
A draft reply to Mrs E C van Lingen (DA-EC) to the above-mentioned question
is enclosed for your consideration.
Ms Nosipho Ngcaba
DIRECTOR-GENERAL
DATE:
DRAFT REPLY APPROVED/AMENDED
MRS B E E MOLEWA, MP
MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS
DATE:
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
(For written reply)
QUESTION NO. 659
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 38 CW870E
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 30 November 2012
Mrs E C van Lingen (DA-EC) to ask the Minister of Water and
Environmental Affairs:
(1) Who is the competent authority at present for granting
environmental authorisations for establishing renewable energy
projects in each province;
(2) Whether she intends to introduce legislation to allow her
department to be the competent authority for all renewable
energy projects; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant
details;
(3) What is the (a) number of environmental impact assessment (EIA)
applications her department has received for (i) wind and (ii)
solar energy projects since 1 December 2011 and (b) breakdown
for each province;
(4) What key challenges is her department facing in processing EIA
applications for any specified projects?
Mrs E C van Lingen (DA-EC)
SECRETARY TO PARLIAMENT
HANSARD
PAPERS OFFICE
PRESS
659. THE MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS ANSWERS:
1) Currently, the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs is the
competent authority for granting environmental authorisations
nationally for establishing renewable energy projects linked to the
Integrated Resource Plan 2010. Section 24C of the National
Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA) deals
with procedures for identifying the competent authority responsible
for processing environmental impact assessment (EIA) applications.
Section 24C(2)(a) of the NEMA stipulates that the Minister must be
identified as the competent authority if the activity has implications
for international environmental commitments or relations. At the 15th
Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate change held in 2010, the President, Mr Jacob Zuma,
committed the country to voluntary reductions in CO2 emissions through
the Copenhagen Accord. As such, applications which fall within the
energy reduction plans of government must be considered by the
Minister.
2) There is no need to introduce legislation to allow the Department of
Environmental Affairs (DEA) to be the competent authority for issuing
of renewable energy projects, as the national office is the competent
authority in terms of section 24C(2)(a) of NEMA.
3) The DEA has received a total of 483 solar and 135 wind applications
for environmental authorisation. Currently, the Department is not in
a position to provide the numbers received from 1 December 2011.
However, the DEA will include this field in its database for future
development. A breakdown of projects per province is provided
hereunder as requested:
|Province |Technology |Totals |
|Eastern Cape Province|Solar |30 |
|Free State Province |Solar |39 |
|Gauteng Province |Solar |18 |
|KwaZulu-Natal |Solar |4 |
|Province | | |
|Limpopo Province |Solar |35 |
|Mpumalanga Province |Solar |10 |
|Northern Cape |Solar |249 |
|Province | | |
|North West Province |Solar |45 |
|Western Cape Province|Solar |53 |
|TOTAL FOR SOLAR |483 |
|Province |Technology |Totals |
|Eastern Cape Province|Wind |40 |
|Free State Province |Wind |1 |
|KwaZulu-Natal |Wind |2 |
|Province | | |
|Mpumalanga Province |Wind |1 |
|Northern Cape |Wind |34 |
|Province | | |
|Western Cape Province|Wind |57 |
|TOTAL FOR SOLAR |135 |
4) The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme
requires an environmental authorisation (EA) before the submission of
a bid. This constitutes a substantial increase in the number of EIA
applications that need to be dealt with by the DEA. Only a small
portion of the authorised applications will result in successful bids.
Bidder requirements are burdensome for the department as well as the
applicants, and were changed a number of times resulting in numerous
amendment of applications; for example, the splitting of EAs,
technology changes, changes of holdership and capacity thresholds.
In general, these applications constitute a new area of work and
potential impacts were not initially known as no precedent has been
set.
There also other challenges, for example, a lack of co-ordination and
communication, decision support tools such as guidelines, GIS
screening systems and protocols that the DEA is working on to assist
in this area of work.
---ooOoo---