In a report-back briefing on Sunday, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that of the 50 actions in the plan, eight had been completed, and 20 were on track. But two had not yet begun, and eight were categorised as"off-track with an intervention needed".
Necom's biggest headaches where work had yet to begin were the development of a net billing framework for businesses and households and a monitoring mechanism for installing rooftop solar. Necom also wants a more formal system of monitoring how much solar PV has been installed. Based on falling demand, Eskom has estimated that by last month 4 400MW had been installed - three-quarters of it over the previous year – by businesses, mining operations, agriculture, industry, and households. We didn't introduce an adequate registration regime, and many municipalities and Eskom did not have one.
Not all of the projects in bid window 5 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme had reached financial close;The National Transmission Company of SA had still not been operationalised.Had the government's procurement programmes in the REIPPP materialised as designed, the combined amount of energy capacity in the pipeline from the REIPPP would be 5 800MW. Ramokgopa said it was anticipated that 2 300MW from these two bid windows would materialise in the next two years.