The draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023 the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy released for public comment in January is sloppy, inaccurate and out of date. The IRP is supposed to be a key document for South Africa’s national long-term electricity planning, but it is so inadequate that it makes a mockery of the public engagement process.
The public only had time until 23 February to comment, but the department then extended the public comment deadline to 23 March 2024. “The serious errors, omissions and changes required in input assumptions, technology costs and available capacity resulted in erroneous conclusions and observations in the Draft IRP 2023 that are not supported by the facts,” Outa says in its submission.Inadequate and out-of-date technology costs