Bright future for solar power
French solar technology group Solaire Direct is one of many new entrants into the power industry awaiting the outcome of the Department of Energy's integrated resource plan in the coming few months. Eskom renewable power programme manager Adele Greyling said the state utility was ring-fencing an independent system operator to facilitate the signing of new power purchase agreements, including renewable projects.
Hammond, however, believes that the feed-in tariff for large-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar power proposed by the National Energy Regulator (R3.94 per kilowatt hour) was too high for rapid development of the sector. "We'd like to see the R3.94 that has been proposed reduced significantly," he said. "Given the dramatic reduction in the cost for solar PV in the last two years that number is too high." He said government had a limit on what it would be prepared to pay for PV power, and the higher the tariff the lower the number of available megawatts would be.