Draft policy on Sustainable Hydropower Generation (2015)
Today the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has gazetted a draft policy on Sustainable Hydropower Generation (2015). The approval of the gazetting of the revised draft Sustainable Hydropower Policy (2015)by the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane, follows a targeted consultation workshop held on the on the 9th September 2015,where DWS officials engaged affected stakeholders and experts.
These experts included people from the private energy industry, civil society, and academia. Subsequently bilateral meetings were held with the Department of Energy at different levels. Water-users including municipalities, industry, experts in the energy industry particularly looking at hydropower generation and other sectors are invited to make submissions towards the draft Sustainable Hydropower Policy (2015).
Draft policy on Sustainable Hydropower Generation (2015) objectives: The overall objective of the document is provide a Policy position for the Department of Water and Sanitation on the establishment and development of hydropower using existing DWS infrastructure as well as within the water resources of South Africa; this as part of long term interventions by the department to support sustainable power supply in South Africa.
The DWS-owned infrastructure includes amongst others dams, barrages, rivers, irrigation systems (canals and conduits) as well as run-of-river schemes. In addition the overall objective of the policy encourages energy efficiency initiatives in the water and sanitation sector which include but are not limited to: Conduit hydropower opportunity in development within Water and Sanitation services infrastructures and water distribution networks. Another objective is to enable hydropower exploitation ranging from very small-scale run-of-river projects to the large-scale retrofitted dams
The documents for the draft policy on Sustainable Hydropower Generation can be obtained through the following gazette notice/s:
- Draft policy on Sustainable Hydropower Generation: Notice Reference Number - N-160701-0954-545
- Documents can also be downloaded from the department’s web
Enquiries:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942
