Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation
Published:August 30,2023
FILE: Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa briefs media on progress made regarding the implementation of the Energy Action Plan. Picture:@GovernmentZA/Twitter.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramakgopa said China would help South Africa move with speed to modernise electricity infrastructure to immediately minimise the effects of load shedding.
At the annual BRICS Summit held in the country last week, the minister signed a joint memorandum of cooperation with eight Chinese power companies to help solve the energy crisis in the country.
China has also committed to granting South Africa hundreds of millions of rands to assist the country’s transition to cleaner energy production.
China said that its power pledges would produce additional generation capacity to support over 500 public facilities.
Ramakgopa has urged the Chinese companies to implement their solutions with speed.
“On the generation side, we’re battling to ensure that we improve the efficiency and reliability of the old coal-fired power stations and China has significant technology to help us do that. They are helping us to address an immediate crisis and as you’ve put it, the emergency energy solutions they are giving to us.”
He said that China was not the only international partner planning to alleviate the country from it’s energy crisis.
“We’re also having significant conversations with other BRICS member states and other major European countries and they’re planning an international partners group, which is US, Germany and France – they are assisting also on the transmission side. So, this is not just isolated to a conversation to China but the China one was able to come to into a concrete agreement.”
ewn.co.za
