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Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the government will work with TVET colleges and universities to outsource the technical skills needed to implement the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) approved by cabinet.Briefing on the IRP in Pretoria, Ramokgopa said the plan includes a R2.2-trillion rand roadmap aimed at ending the country’s energy crisis and driving economic growth.However, he pointed out that there were some challenges that they would experience, including skills shortages.“Let me make the point that the biggest risk to us not achieving this IRP lies in two areas. The first is the skills pipeline. We have not built any major infrastructure programmes in the country. It’s been isolated. We had the so-called 2010 World Cup and the next significant intervention was [Medupi and Kusile] and nothing of significance in between. This means the skills required to support this programme are in short supply. That’s why we’ll be engaging with universities and TVET institutions, especially in engineering, the built environment and issues of nuclear fields,” he said.Ramokgopa said the IRP will help grow the economy.“We are looking into how we can achieve universal access, decarbonise the South African economy and get people into jobs. Electricity is a structural constraint to the South African economy and that’s why the economy has barely grown. “That’s why you have these levels of unemployment in the country and, of course, the poverty levels in the country. That’s a result of an economy that is not growing, an economy that’s not creating jobs,” Ramokgopa said.He said power shortages in 2023 worsened the crisis and made it difficult for the finance ministry to balance the national budget.This means the skills required to support this programme are in short supply.— Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, minister of electricityThe IRP is a comprehensive, forward-looking strategy that outlines the allocation of SA’s primary energy resources, ensuring that the country’s electricity demand is met both sustainably and cost-efficiently. Ramokgopa said now that power outages have been fixed, energy will be a catalyst for growth.“The economy is about R7-trillion, so this plan represents 80% of our GDP. The first is to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. As you know, we have set ourselves a target of growing the economy by more than three percentage points by 2030. That is our commitment. An economy cannot grow if the lights are off,” he said.The plan will see the massive expansion of generation capacity — adding 105 gigawatts of new power by 2039.The IRP focuses on a mix of renewable and conventional energy sources, including 11,270 megawatts of solar, 7,340MW of wind, 6,000MW of gas-to-power, 3,100MW of battery storage, and 5,400MW of distributed generation by 2030. For the first time, clean energy technologies such as solar, wind, nuclear, and hydro will overtake coal in total output. Sowetan
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Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the government will work with TVET colleges and universities to outsource the technical skills needed to implement the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) approved by cabinet.Briefing on the IRP in Pretoria, Ramokgopa said the plan includes a R2.2-trillion rand roadmap aimed at ending the country’s energy crisis and driving economic growth.However, he pointed out that there were some challenges that they would experience, including skills shortages.“Let me make the point that the biggest risk to us not achieving this IRP lies in two areas. The first is the skills pipeline. We have not built any major infrastructure programmes in the country. It’s been isolated. We had the so-called 2010 World Cup and the next significant intervention was [Medupi and Kusile] and nothing of significance in between. This means the skills required to support this programme are in short supply. That’s why we’ll be engaging with universities and TVET institutions, especially in engineering, the built environment and issues of nuclear fields,” he said.Ramokgopa said the IRP will help grow the economy.“We are looking into how we can achieve universal access, decarbonise the South African economy and get people into jobs. Electricity is a structural constraint to the South African economy and that’s why the economy has barely grown. “That’s why you have these levels of unemployment in the country and, of course, the poverty levels in the country. That’s a result of an economy that is not growing, an economy that’s not creating jobs,” Ramokgopa said.He said power shortages in 2023 worsened the crisis and made it difficult for the finance ministry to balance the national budget.This means the skills required to support this programme are in short supply.— Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, minister of electricityThe IRP is a comprehensive, forward-looking strategy that outlines the allocation of SA’s primary energy resources, ensuring that the country’s electricity demand is met both sustainably and cost-efficiently. Ramokgopa said now that power outages have been fixed, energy will be a catalyst for growth.“The economy is about R7-trillion, so this plan represents 80% of our GDP. The first is to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. As you know, we have set ourselves a target of growing the economy by more than three percentage points by 2030. That is our commitment. An economy cannot grow if the lights are off,” he said.The plan will see the massive expansion of generation capacity — adding 105 gigawatts of new power by 2039.The IRP focuses on a mix of renewable and conventional energy sources, including 11,270 megawatts of solar, 7,340MW of wind, 6,000MW of gas-to-power, 3,100MW of battery storage, and 5,400MW of distributed generation by 2030. For the first time, clean energy technologies such as solar, wind, nuclear, and hydro will overtake coal in total output. Sowetan
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Source: {source_name} | via Sportscraper.co.uk
