The Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, will tomorrow, 26 November 2023, provide an update  on electricity generation performance following the implementation of Stage 6 loadshedding by Eskom.

Members of the media are invited to attend the briefing as follows:

Date: Sunday, 26 November 2023
Time: 09:00 for 10:00
Venue: GCIS Auditorium, Tshedimosetso House, 1035 Francis Baard Street, Hatfield, Pretoria

Live Streaming details:

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Twitter: http://twitter.com/GovernmentZA   
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GovernmentZA  

Media enquires: Tsakane Khambane on 082 084 5566 or Daphne Mokoena on 082 441 6501

Issued by: The Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity
Pretoria

The Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity will this afternoon host a media briefing ahead of the second iteration of the South Africa Green Hydrogen Summit (SAGHS) at the Century City Conference Centre in the Western Cape. 

SAGHS 2022 pronounced on South Africa’s solid green hydrogen policy foundation. SAGHS 2023 will build on this and make important announcements around:

a.​Progress in finalising the South African Green Hydrogen Commercialisation Strategy;

b.​The development of a Northern Cape Province Green Hydrogen Masterplan;

c.​Progress in developing the Western Cape Green Hydrogen Strategy

Details of the media briefing are as follows:

Date: Sunday, 15 October 2023
Time: 13h00 for 14h00
Venue: Urban Square Hotel, Century City

Media that has applied for accreditation are advised to collect their accreditation at the Bridgewater 1 in Century City from 09h00.

Live Streaming details:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/GovernmentZA  
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GovernmentZA  
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GovernmentZA 

Members of the media following the briefing virtually can send their questions to the GCIS MEDIA UPDATES WhatsApp group.

Media enquires: Tsakane Khambane, Ministry in the Presidency for Electricity | Cell: 082 084 5566

Issued by: Government Communication and Information Systems on behalf of the Ministry Of Electricity
Pretoria

The Minister in The Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, will on Monday, 09 October 2023, provide an update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan.

Members of the media are invited to attend the briefing as follows:

Date: Monday, 09 October 2023
Time: 10h00
Venue: Boardroom 159, Union Buildings, Pretoria

Live Streaming details:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/GovernmentZA  
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GovernmentZA
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GovernmentZA 

Media enquires: Tsakane Khambane, Ministry in the Presidency for Electricity | Cell: 082 084 5566

Issued by: Government Communication and Information Systems on behalf of the Ministry Of Electricity
Pretoria

The Minister in The Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, joined by Eskom’s executives, will this afternoon, 24 November 2023, brief members of the media following the implementation of Stage 6 loadshedding by Eskom.

Members of the media are invited to attend the briefing as follows:

Date: Friday, 24  November 2023
Time: 14h00 for 15h00
Venue: GCIS Auditorium, Tshedimosetso House, 1035 Francis Baard Street, Hatfield, Pretoria

Live Streaming details:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/GovernmentZA   
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GovernmentZA   
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GovernmentZA  


Media enquires: Tsakane Khambane on 082 084 5566 or Daphne Mokoena on 082 441 6501

Issued by: The Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity
Pretoria

The Minister in The Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, welcomes developments in Eskom’s generation performance following the return to service of Unit 1 at Kusile Power Station, ahead of schedule.

The return of the unit, which had been out of commission together with units 2 and 3 since August 2022 following safety concerns with the structural integrity of the stack, comes two months ahead of schedule and adds 800MW into the grid.

This marks significant overall improvements to generation performance with Kusile Unit 3, which came back online on 29 September 2023, also returning back to service two months ahead of schedule.

The third of the units (Unit 2) is now expected to similarly return to service in November 2023, whilst Unit 5 will come into commercial operation in December 2023.
 
The return of the Kusile units represents a critical milestone in our quest to recover South Africa’s economy, protecting jobs, advancing universal access and improving the quality of life.
 
The Minister remains focussed in bolstering the country's electricity generating capacity by giving accelerated attention to the expansion and strengthening of transmission infrastructure to accommodate new renewable generation capacity.
 
The Minister congratulates Eskom’s Generation Team for the sterling hard work to bring back stability and credibility to the Eskom generation fleet and reducing the intensity and severity of load shedding.
 
 
Media enquires: Tsakane Khambane on 082 084 5566
 
Issued by: The Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity
Pretoria

The weekly media briefings hosted by the Minister in The Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan (EAP) will forthwith take place fortnightly on Mondays at 10h00. 

The cadence of the briefings being amended from weekly to fortnightly is due to the improvement and stabilisation of Eskom’s generation performance. 

The Minister will provide the next EAP update to the media on 23 October since the last briefing took place on 09 October 2023. 

The Minister’s regular media briefings seek to keep the public informed on the efforts and developments of addressing the energy demand/supply situation in the most open and transparent manner. 

Media enquires: Tsakane Khambane on 082 084 5566

Issued by: The Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity
Pretoria

The Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity will on 16 - 17 October 2023 host the second iteration of the South Africa Green Hydrogen Summit (SAGHS) at the Century City Convention Centre in Cape Town.

Green hydrogen and its associated large scale renewable energy production has the potential to support the expansion of the electricity transmission infrastructure to add additional renewable energy generation capacity and to support the local development of renewable energy.

This makes green hydrogen a key component of South Africa’s future energy mix and features as one of the Big Five Frontiers in the South Africa Investment Strategy.

The inaugural SAGHS, held in November 2022, showcased South Africa as a large-scale, low-cost, world-class green hydrogen production hub and total value chain investment destination. 

The 2023 Summit aims to take the next step by focusing on the production and application of Green Hydrogen and paving the way for machines on the ground whilst concretising Power to X.

Regional and continental collaboration by African states is key to achieving green hydrogens potential as a vector to re-industrialise South Africa’s economy in a manner which is sustainable.

This years’ Summit will also  be more Pan African, with Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa having assumed the chairship of the African Green Hydrogen Alliance (AGHA) on behalf of South Africa September 2023.

AGHA is a voluntary coalition of African countries with significant green hydrogen production potential seeking to promote continental green hydrogen cooperation.

SAGHS 2022 pronounced on South Africa’s solid green hydrogen policy foundation. SAGHS 2023 will build on this and make important announcements around:

a.​ Progress in finalising the South African Green Hydrogen Commercialisation Strategy;

b.​ The development of a Northern Cape Province Green Hydrogen Masterplan;

c.​ Progress in developing the Western Cape and Gauteng Green Hydrogen Strategies; and

d.​ Cabinet’s approval of the South Africa Investment Strategy, which features Green Hydrogen as one of the Big 5 Frontiers being nascent sectors with significant growth and investment potential.
 
Members of the media are invited to cover the Summit as follows:
 
SUNDAY, 15 OCTOBER 2023

Media Briefing on Announcements

Time: 13h00 for 14h00
Venue: Urban Square Hotel, Century City
 
MONDAY, 16 - 17 OCTOBER 2023

Summit Plenary and Panel Discussions - (All panel discussions will be open for the media – programme to be shared with Media that RSVPS)

Venue: Century City Conference Centre, Western Cape
 
Members of the media who wish to cover the summit and the media briefing are required to register for accreditation by no later than 16h00 on Monday, 09 October 2023 on the following registration link:

https://rsvp.rsvpagency.co.za/rsvpagency/page/en/self-registration?code=glQWE8KFR9D1JHYEN
Website: https://greenhydrogensummit.org.za/

Media enquires: Tsakane Khambane, Spokesperson in the Ministry of Electricity, on 082 084 5566

Issued by: The Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity
Pretoria

The Minister in The Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, will host the weekly media briefing to update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan. 

Members of the media are invited to attend the briefing as follows:

Date: Sunday, 01 October 2023
Time: 11h00
Venue: GCIS Auditorium, Tshedimosetso House, 1035 Francis Baard Street, Hatfield, Pretoria

Live Streaming details:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/GovernmentZA   
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GovernmentZA   
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GovernmentZA  

Media enquiries: Tsakane Khambane,  Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity, on 082 084 5566

Issued by: The Ministry in The Presidency for Electricity
Pretoria

The Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa will host the weekly media briefing to update on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan. 
 
Members of the media are invited to attend the briefing as follows:
Date: Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Time: 13:00
Venue: GCIS Auditorium, Tshedimosetso House, 1035 Francis Baard Street, Hatfield, Pretoria
 
Live Streaming details:
Facebook: http://facebook.com/GovernmentZA  
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GovernmentZA  
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GovernmentZA 
 
 
Media enquiries: Tsakane Khambane in  the Ministry of Electricity, cell 082 084 5566
 
Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, today, 21 September 2023, co-hosted the South African Transmission Financing Seminar with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), where experts and stakeholders from the energy and financial sectors shared key insights on the financing and development of South Africa’s electricity transmission infrastructure for sustainable energy security in South Africa.

The development and expansion of South Africa’s electricity transmission infrastructure is critical to enable diverse energy generating sources-which are geographically located in various parts of the country - to contribute to the country’s electricity grid.

Convened at the JSE head offices in Johannesburg, the Chairman of the JSE Mr Phutuma Nhleko in his welcoming remarks emphasised the importance of partnerships in finding solutions and said, “As a key player in the economy, the JSE is encouraged by government’s commitment to partner with the private sector in exploring alternative funding opportunities for maintaining, modernising and expanding the national grid.”

Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa highlighted a number of key aspects during the opening of the seminar. 

He outlined South Africa’s current transmission status quo which illustrated the requirement of transmission infrastructure expansion. The Minister further shared the transmission expansion plan and the subsequent planned major projects alongside key challenges facing transmission. 

Key among these challenges is the  financing and funding gap that’s required to fulfil transmission infrastructure development.

Insufficient investment in the transmission system, government’s financial constraints, and governance deficiencies have resulted in Eskom delaying investment in the maintenance, refurbishment and expansion of the national grid infrastructure.

An estimated amount upwards of R 250 billion is required to fund the expansion of South Africa’s grid.
 
The discussions were framed in  four focus areas, under chatham house rules and unpacked the various financing requirements and potential solutions for the transmission expansion and modernisation programme.  

Central to the discussions were how to  protect the country’s long-term socio-economic interests while balancing sustainability obligations and international commitments to climate change and decarbonisation. 

The key thematic aspects addressed the synergising of private sector and government collaboration, the options and size of available financial resources, as well as international insights to build local resilience, capacity and expertise. 

The Minister described the seminar as useful and said, “The conversations were able to provide insights of how peer countries which had our similar  challenges were able to resolve their electricity problems and the possible ways to finance grid expansion” . 

Media enquires: Tsakane Khambane, Ministry of Electricity on 082 084 5566 and Pheliswa Mayekiso, JSE on 084 486 0502 and Pheliswam@jse.co.za

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria