Programme Director;
Honourable Minister Molewa
Deputy Minister Fransman;
President of the South African Youth Council, Mr Thulani Tshefuta;
Western Cape Secretary of the South African Youth Council, Andile Ndevu;
The Leadership of the South African Youth Council;
Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers of the Renewable Energy Industry;
Representatives of Higher Education Institutions;
Representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations;
Representatives of all Youth Formations;
Sponsors;
Delegates and
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is an honour to address the opening of the Green Energy Summit. I also appreciate this opportunity for interaction on developmental issues with the youth and the delegates to this summit in the month of June, a month that draws our attention to the issues confronting the youth today.
The South African Youth Council has gathered us here under the theme "Ensuring Youth Participation in Green Economy".
Let me commend the youth for taking charge and showing an interest not only in their own development, but also, in issues that will define the future of the world.
This summit is affirmation that the youth is playing an active role in the country's growth, focusing on sustainable development.
In this youth month, the Department of Environmental Affairs has declared it the "Environment Month". This year's theme - Think.Eat.Save - is aimed at encouraging us to become more aware of the environmental impact of the food choices that we make and empowers us to make informed decisions.
For example, we are encouraged to buy locally so that foods are not flown halfway across the world and therefore limit CO2 emissions. In line with reducing the carbon footprint, this summit on Green Energy expands on the work already underway in terms of the New Growth Path's green accord, which identified opportunities such as creating 300 000 additional direct jobs by the year 2020 through the green economy.
Like many of our development efforts, the efforts on developing a green economy tend to be focused on the creation of jobs and intensifying the fight against the inter-linked, triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. Issues of climate change compound our development challenges to the extent that we have to initiate clean development models even as we move away from old ones that fall foul of clean energy imperatives.
Poverty is the most urgent challenge because it is the daily reality of many South Africans. We must therefore move with the necessary speed to deal with climate change, which invariably exacerbates conditions of poverty for many. In fact, poor communities based in peri-urban and rural areas are part of the most vulnerable people as they are exposed to the impacts of climate change daily.
The poor are more disadvantaged as they cannot afford adaptation mechanisms. To make matters worse, the United Nations tell us that by 2080 climate change could lead to an extra 600 million people affected by malnutrition, 400 million exposed to malaria and 1.8 billion people without enough water. Let us be warned, therefore, that the struggle against poverty becomes weak if we ignore climate change.
South Africa has had a number of responses and initiatives towards climate change in an attempt to meet the Copenhagen targets. One of the policy decisions that has been initiated and contributes towards the green economy is the Integrated Resource Plan 2010-2030 (also known as IRP2010). On the 17th March 2011, Cabinet approved the IRP2010 for promulgation by the department of Energy.
The 20-year power generation plan is South Africa's first long term electricity plan and it focuses on diversifying sources of energy. The backbone of South Africa's economy is largely based on energy-intensive activities such as mineral extraction and processing.
Historically speaking, South Africa had a very low price for electricity, liquid fuels and coal. This gave South Africa a competitive advantage. As a result of these factors there developed a culture that did not incentivise energy saving. Hence part of the objectives of the IRP 2010 is on Energy Efficiency. This is to ensure that consumers do not re-live the 2008 rolling- blackouts.
In late 2007 Eskom saw reserve margins plunge lower than eight per cent. The warnings and energy efficiency advice that we hear on the radio and see on the power bulletin every evening during news bulletins are similar to those issued prior to the 2008 load-shedding, which resulted in blackouts.
What then can we do differently? Shortage of skills and increased demand for electricity are some of the reasons cited as having led to the insufficient generation capacity in 2008.
The Green Energy Summit is therefore critical as a platform for reflecting on these challenges as well as ways to build skills capacity. Despite the various initiatives such as the 49M campaign and the Energy Conservation Scheme. the Minister of Energy confirmed in her 2013 budget vote speech that the desired progress has not yet been achieved in Energy Demand Side Management.
The 49m campaign was launched when the population was 49 million. Today as we speak the population is 53 million. Meaning thatvthere has been 4 million increase.
Consequently, let us remember that, as a starting point, government cannot attain all the targets alone. Based on this reality, we call upon all the stakeholders, delegates present here and all South Africans to assist in lowering energy demand.
As the champion for the 49M campaign, I further call upon all South Africans, from research institutions, institutions of higher education, the renewable energy industry and individuals to help us with suggestions which will contribute to the energy efficiency campaign.
There are various opportunities for the youth to contribute to clean energy production through wind, solar and other renewable energy sources. I would like to encourage the private sector to make funding available for research and innovation.
I would also like to encourage higher education institutions and SETAs to work harder at providing programmes that equip students with the relevant training and capacity building. Investment in skills development should be at the centre of our attempts to build a green economy.
All these efforts and initiatives should be aligned to prioritising the localisation of energy products and services. Energy auditing, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance are examples of the focus areas for training and capacity building.
The Global Innovation Index of 2012 ranks South Africa as 42nd with regards to innovation and much credit goes to good scientific research institutions.
Our country is also commended for strong collaboration between universities and the business sector in innovation. Let us further strengthen these collaborations with the view to opening up access for our youth for the necessary funding to develop our country's capacity and skills in this pivotal area of renewable energy.
In addition, the National Nuclear Energy Executive Co-ordination Committee, established in 2012 and which is chaired by the president is tasked with making high-level recommendations concerned with the nuclear energy programme.
This is further testimony to government's commitment to both strengthening and investing in research and development of clean energy technologies from a multitude of sources, while conscious to ensure minimal environmental impact and safety of generation methods.
Historically we have approached the development of our energy infrastructure, particularly power stations, transmission and distribution lines, and even our coal to liquid technology, on the basis that we have abundant and cheap coal resources. As such our energy infrastructure for power generation and liquid fuels production is located near coalfields, and we transport the energy carrier from the coalfields over large distances to the load centres in the urban areas.
For electricity infrastructure this means heavy transmission losses are incurred and secondly, limited rural development due to the paucity of infrastructure in certain corners of the country. This has resulted in skewed economic development, with the urban areas and the coal field areas enjoying better infrastructure, whilst other rural areas have yet to attain access to modern energy carriers.
Whilst this was a sound basis for planning then, global developments regarding climate change and its adverse impact on the wellbeing of humankind, plus the realisation that fossil based energy sources are not infinitely available, have necessitated a review of our approach to meeting our future energy needs.
From a South African perspective we have set ourselves certain objectives in the energy space, including security of supply, cost minimisation, increasing access, diversifying our primary energy sources, reducing emissions, improved energy efficiency, water conservation and localization of the energy value chains. Meeting these objectives is dependent on an energy mix that considers the technology options on their own merits.
Accordingly, our energy planning framework seeks to maximise the economic benefits of our electricity, gas and liquid fuels infrastructure development programmes at the same time as meeting the other set objectives.
Whilst the plans provide for significant departure from the coal paradigm, it does not mean that we are abandoning coal as a source of our energy. On the contrary, we intend to develop our renewable energy resources not only to diversify our energy mix without preferring one energy carrier over another, but also, to take full advantage of our endowment in other natural resources.
Fortunately for South Africa, we have amongst the best solar energy resources in the world in addition to coal, which makes it logical for us to pursue the exploitation of photovoltaic technologies. In addition, we have abundant shale gas resources, the commercial exploitation of which we have to investigate and pursue.
Our uranium deposits are also too sizeable for us to ignore from a beneficiation perspective. If this is coupled with the potential for regional interconnection within the SADC sub-region, we have the potential to be one of the fastest growing economic hubs in the world, on the back of our environmentally balanced and sustainable energy resources.
Positive economic spinoffs are evident due to the following factors:
- continuing to explore clean coal technologies through research and development;
- solar technology development, particularly concentrating solar power, which holds enormous potential for opening up regional development in the Northern Cape;
- the pursuit of a knowledge economy through the beneficiation of uranium and the nuclear programme;
- the interconnection of the hydropower potential in SADC particularly Mozambique and the DRC;
- the accelerated exploration of shale gas in the Karoo side by side with pursuing our economic diplomacy efforts to harness the natural gas discoveries in Mozambique and Tanzania;
- the exploitation of small biomass energy opportunities for distributed generation purposes in rural areas;
- the development of off-grid technologies targeting the urban informal settlements where networked energy solutions are curtailed by unstructured settlement patterns; and
- on the demand side ensuring that we divert our thermal load for hot water to renewable solar water heaters, domestic space heating and cooking.
Whilst the macroeconomic spinoffs are evident, there are socio-economic benefits like skills development, rural development and improvement in the quality of life that cannot be ignored.
Given these diverse options to ensure our energy security, South Africa's economic developmental objectives can be achieved and sustained well into the future.
Once again success in this huge task is predicated on assistance from all concerned, including the youth, academia, and research institutions.
Ladies and gentlemen;
While we may justifiably pride ourselves on being amongst the thriving economies in Africa we are lagging behind in key aspects such as capacity building for niche industries. Stemming from this reality is the imperative for us to continue pursuing a developmental state which is rich with cutting-edge technologies and innovation alike, while we concentrate strategic space such as niche industries.
This summit should deal with the challenge of our country's low levels of enterprise and skills development in response to opportunities presented by the green economy.
Similarly, partnerships and accords should be tightened between higher education institutions, industry and the youth to ensure that these opportunities are well funded so that even the marginalised from such information and opportunities are reached. Let us ensure that the pool is widened to include those that are marginalised and in need.
I wish to challenge this summit to have candid conversations on how the youth can be trained into the various professions in the renewable energy space. These opportunities are important to consider as the clean energy sector constantly shifts across technologies.
To illustrate government's role and contribution to empowerment and development, I am confident that last night at the dinner, Minister Peters would have elaborated on government's progress towards our commitment to a greener economy and the efforts made to ensure that renewables contribute to the national grid.
Against the background of the scope of issues outlined above, I am confident that the outcomes of this summit will one day be viewed as the engine which brought to life many successes and contributions to South Africa's sustainable development.
I wish you well in your deliberations and I look forward to the youth strategy which will be one of the products of this summit.
I thank you.
