Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has reiterated that government will procure nuclear power at a pace and scale the country can afford, but emphasised this would be done in a transparent manner to avoid any suspicion about the nuclear programme.

He also announced the withdrawal of a ministerial determination for the procurement of 2500 MW of new nuclear capacity, published on January 26 this year, to allow for an additional public participation process and in a bid to avoid litigation from civil rights organisations.

The determination announced the government’s plan to proceed with the process to procure and undertake a nuclear-build programme to augment South Africa’s baseload capacity and strengthen energy security.

Ramokgopa acceded to the request of civil society organisations, Earthlife Africa and Southern African Faith Communities’, Environment Institute (Safcei), to have public participation on the three suspensive conditions that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) made when it gave concurrence.

The Electricity Regulation Act specifies the electricity-related activities that must be licensed by the regulator and a framework for the licence application process. The critical provision is Section 34, which allows the minister, with the concurrence of the regulator, to make a “determination” that new generation capacity is required and – simply put – to make it happen.

Initially, Nersa held a public consultation process in 2021 for the procurement of 2500 MW of nuclear capacity and then issued the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) a concurrence, barring three suspensive conditions.

The DMRE subsequently had to meet these conditions before Nersa could grant its full concurrence. In response, the DMRE provided a report to Nersa indicating how it would meet the suspensive conditions, and the regulator gave its full concurrence.

However, the timeline for the public participation process has not yet been finalised, but should be completed within three to six months and a detailed timeline should be available by the end of September.

“I agree with these applicants. I agree with Earthlife Africa, I agree with the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute that Nersa should have subjected that process to a public participation process,” Ramokgopa said.

“On the back of the decision to allow an additional public consultation process, the Section 34 gazette of January 2024 has been withdrawn. Nuclear is part of the future. But it is important that as we go out and procure — the procurement process must be able to stand the test of time.”

Some energy experts believe the answer for new baseload capacity is nuclear power, and many information technology companies are seeking to have reliable 24-hour nuclear power for their energy-intensive artificial intelligence data centres.

South Africa’s sole nuclear power plant, the 1 860 MW Koeberg station outside Cape Town, has been one of Eskom’s most reliable power plants since 1984, and is in the process of getting a further 20-year life extension.

In response to a question from Business Report, Ramokgopa said the government was looking at two sites in addition to Koeberg, but the site selection was still some way off.

After the public participation on the suspensive conditions, the next step was to update draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023 (IRP 2023) so as to “de-risk” the process of energy procurement.

“We will work with all entities to have a clear and transparent process that will be subject to public scrutiny. Today, we are taking one step back so that we can take several steps forward,” he said.

A revision of the IRP 2023 will involve looking at the expected demand profile beyond 2030; the use of new technology, such as small modular nuclear reactors; and how the various components of the energy mix would weave together to provide South Africa with reliable power.

Ramokgopa previously said the details of the nuclear power bidding process would be shared by the end of August, pending approval by National Treasury.

BUSINESS REPORT