Pretoria - Energy security is important if South Africa is to create jobs and avoid power cuts, says President Jacob Zuma.
"Energy security is critical for economic development and job creation. We must all save energy so that we do not have to resort to load shedding again as a saving measure," President Zuma said as he delivered the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament on Thursday.
Over R75 billion has been invested by power parastatal Eskom in ensuring that the lights stay on through the building of new power stations - Medupi (in Limpopo), Kusile (in Mpumalanga) and Ingula ( located between the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal), as well as the return to service and transmission of other projects.
South Africa will start procuring power from Renewable Energy Power Producers, demonstrating the country's commitment to renewable energy.
Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has in the past said South Africa should diversify its energy resources to include cleaner energy. South Africa, she said, still had the task of developing renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro and wind power to their full potential.
To address challenges of funding renewable energy technologies, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa promulgated Renewable Energy Feed-in-Tariffs (REFIT), which is meant to attract investors.
