Chair, when South Africa has a clear development plan and growth is the objective, suggestions that Eskom customers should save electricity are hard to swallow. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's reference to South Africa's tight energy supply damaging the economy seems more to the point.
The ACDP welcomes the expansion of renewable energy in the country with the new solar power plant near Kimberley and the 60 turbines at Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm, which is exceeding its 41% capacity factor, and will feed around 460 000 megawatts a year into South Africa's grid. The programme at Jeffreys Bay has raised a lot investor interest. A clearer commitment by government in respect of the long-term scale of renewable energy's procurement programme would help to allay investor uncertainty.
The ACDP commends all concerned on the 47 renewable energy projects concluded in 2012 and 2013, which included the first South African utility scale PV facility in the Northern Cape.
We also commend the City of Cape Town for signing an agreement for the establishment of a pilot plastics-to-oil plant at its Kraaifontein integrated waste management facility. But - and this is a big but - why a foreign firm, when there are local solutions which just require funding? Government support only for the commercialisation of already developed technology is seriously problematic, as many South African investors have come up with innovative solutions to our problems. With sufficient resources to develop, we have more than sufficient sunlight for the delivery of liquefied natural gas, LNG, for our own consumption as well as export, and to extract atmospheric water using solar power to provide for communities in arid areas.
Two years ago, the ACDP was hopeful that government would move on the potential of the gas discovery in the Revuma basin in Mozambique. Gas emits about half the amount of pollution that coal does for the generation of the same amount of electricity, and has an energy feedback for the production of synthetic fuels. This could also serve to decrease South Africa's carbon emissions.
Hon Minister, why does the revised 20-year energy draft plan seem to ignore the Revuma basin? It is the world's fourth-largest known gas deposit, and could solve Eskom's immediate energy crises and avoid the costly construction of a third new coal power station. Surely, a pipeline is the most sensible thing, and it should absolutely be in the IRP.
Another concern is the current status of the new nuclear build. There is a need for greater clarity. The ACDP is calling on you, hon Minister, for a full enquiry into the current state of our existing nuclear industry. Koeberg has passed its sell-by date and is being shut down on a regular basis for repairs at huge costs. The department seems to want to extend its life, just as the Safari 1, while nuclear reactors the world over that were built in the same era have officially closed down.
The ACDP will support this Vote in the interests of going forward, despite its many reservations. [Time expired.]