JOHANNESBURG, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The South African government on Friday said there is an increase in the renewable energy investment and they want to see more money put in the energy sector.
This was said by South Africa's Energy Minister Jeff Radebe speaking at a stakeholder engagement in Johannesburg on Friday.
The meeting was attended by government officials, business, civil society and industry associations among others.
The country secured 10.8 billion U.S. dollars between 2014 to 2016, through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), said Radebe.
"This was significantly more than any other African state in the same period," said the minister.
"More recently we have continued growing the renewable sector through the recent signing of the Independent Power Produce (IPP) agreements, securing 4.67 billion U.S. dollars of investment into 27 new projects," Radebe said. "These 27 projects are making a significant contribution to government's commitments to meaningful black ownership participation and economic transformation."
The South African president have appointed a team of technocrats to source an investment of 100 billion U.S. dollars.
Radebe said they also want to promote natural gas by designing and building infrastructure required to transport natural gas and liquefied natural gas.
He said the country want to move towards cleaner fuels by improving refinery assets to meet world class emissions standards.
South Africa also wants to move towards the electrification of transport through strategic partnerships, he added.
"A new bid round of the Renewable Energy IPP programme will be launched in November 2018 and it is estimated to be 1,800 MW of similar technologies as in the expedited bid window. This could bring another 3 to 4.16 billion U.S. dollars of investment to the country," said Radebe.
