Lack of load shedding mustn’t be used as ‘electioneering tool’, warns Ramokgopa
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has cautioned against using the improvement in the load-shedding situation as an “electioneering tool.”
South Africans have not had to deal with the dreaded planned power cuts for nearly a month.
Cynics have pointed to the upcoming elections as a reason, saying the ANC is using the improvements as a means to win votes.
But briefing the media on the power situation on Monday morning Ramokgopa said the lack of load-shedding is merely due to an improvement in generation capacity.
Ramakgopa says another factor has been the increase in the use of rooftop solar.
"Part of this energy plan is to ensure that we accelerate the rollout of rooftop solar solutions by both households and industries. I have shared with the country that we have seen a doubling of the capacity of rooftop solar panels. We moved in July 2020 from about 2,200 megawatts to about 4,000 megawatts a year later."
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Ramokgopa says the increase use of solar will remain a benefit to the power grid, even when the load shedding crisis is no longer an issue,.
"When you are out of this load shedding situation we will still encourage people to roll put rooftops because we want to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel renewable and we want to ensure that households contribute small and large industries contribute to this transition."
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