Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698084827045.pdf (Swaziland)
PAGE 8 Times of Swaziland - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 NEWS SA GOVT PUTS PRESSURE The South Af- …wants to know when country will be self-sufficient STORIES BY SIFISO DHLAMINI rican govern- m e n t w a n t s Swaziland to come up with a con- crete power genera- tion plan to reduce its reliability on Eskom.
South Africa’s Energy Min- ister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said her government would ap- preciate hearing how its Swazi counterparts intended to over- come the Kingdom’s reliance on imported electricity and ensure sustainable self-generation.

Minister Joemat-Pettersson made this remark when official- ly opening the 34th Meeting of the Ministers Responsible for Energy in the Southern Afri- can Development Community (SADC) at the Sandton Con- vention Centre in Johannesburg last Friday.
“We would like to know what Swaziland is doing to become self-sustainable and how we could assist in that regard.

We want to help Swaziland so that it benefits from the regional power interconnectivity, come up with South Africa’s Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson making her point during the 34th SADC Energy Ministers gathering in Sandton.. (Pics: Sikelela Khoza) renewable energy generation plans such as bio-fuel and non- grid access,” she said.
Added the Minister; “The South African government is ready with expertise and any available resources to help the region become self-sustainable.

We’re extremely concerned by the shortage of energy that we’re all suffering from.” Joemat-Pettersson, however, assured the SADC Ministers that Eskom received strict instruc- tion not to cut power supply to any of the neighbouring states.

Notably, Swaziland was not the only SADC country that the South African Minister had a special message for.
Others included Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“I’ve been directed by my President to visit all the SADC countries to understand what each one of them was doing and how we could collaborate to make our countries and region self-sustainable in terms of en- ergy,” she said.

Joemat-Pettersson’s remarks came amid concerns that South Africa’s power utility Eskom was under serious constraint to fulfil the increasing demand from its local customers.
Swaziland is one of the SADC member-states that are heavily reliant on South Africa.

In fact, about 80 percent of Swaziland’s energy requirements come from across the border.

In her speech,Joemat-Pet- tersson repeatedly emphasised the importance of SADC coun- tries supporting each other by sharing where there is surplus energy.

“We need to promote the cross-border inter-connector projects to catch up on the huge losses we’ve already made in as far as growing our economies is concerned.
Our region will not grow if the energy deficiency is not addressed soonest,” she stated.

The Minister noted that effi- cient infrastructure development through energy services was important.
She then appealed to MINISTER MASHWAMA HOPEFUL TIDE WILL TURN POWER SHORTAGE CONCERNS SADC “The region is still facing limited energy availability, delivery, accessibility and affordability” broken down by country as follows;  Democratic Republic of Congo ....................... 430 MW  Mozambique... 205 MW  South Africa.... 1,828 MW  Tanzania ....... 150 MW  Zambia .......... 135 MW Regional integration is regarded as a cornerstone in the SADC develop- ment agenda with a number of regional projects currently at various stages of development.
These include the Mozam- bique-Zimbabwe-South Africa (MOZI- SA) transmission project, DRC-Zambia 220Kv interconnector project and Inga phase one.

Others include the Zim- babwe-Zambia-Botswana-Namibia (ZIZABONA) interconnector project, Mozambique-Malawi interconnector project, Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya inter- connector project and Namibia- Angola inter-connector project.

Dr Undenge noted that the region was endowed with vast renewable ener- gy resources, which were under-exploit- ed.
These include solar, wind, biomass and geothermal.

He sounded hopeful that implemen- tation of the SADC Renewable Energy Strategy and Action Plan will increase investment in the renewable energy sector and alleviate the power shortages currently faced.

The Minister following the proceedings.

The Ministers of En- ergy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) want to enhance economic growth by facilitating the availability of sufficient, reliable and least-costly energy.
The Ministers want energy to assist in the eradication of poverty and protection of the environment.

This was articulated by Chairperson of the SADC Energy Ministers Dr Samuel Undenge, who is also Minister of Energy and Power Development in Zimbabwe.

“Our primary objective is to pro- mote sustainable economic growth, socio-economic development and poverty-eradication through regional co-operation while ensuring the envi- ronmentally-sustainable use of energy resources,” he said.
Dr Undenge lamented the low level of economic development and indus- trialisation in the region owing to lack of adequate energy supply.

He further expressed regret that the region was still facing a number of challenges with regard to energy availability, delivery, access and affordability.

“Implementation of planned energy projects is lagging behind due to lack of funding, inadequate policy and regu- latory frameworks, low tariffs and poor project preparations.
It is gratifying to note that we are not sitting on our laurels as a number of medium-term measures are in place to address the generation deficit that we’re currently facing,” he elaborated.

The SADC region will soon commis- sion an additional 24,062 mega-watts of new generation capacity.

About 70 percent of this will come from renewa- ble energy sources such as hydro, wind and solar.
In the short-term, the region also plans to commission 2,763 mega-watts, Minister Mashwama making a submission to the packed audience of Energy Ministers and senior officials.

Th e M i n i s t e r o f Natural resources and Energy Hon- ourable Jabulile Mashwama is optimistic that the energy challeng- es facing the SADC region will soon be overcome.
In an interview soon after at- tending the SADC Energy Ministers Meeting in Johannesburg last Fri- day, Minister Mashwama admitted that the challenges were serious and required carefully thought-out strategies.

Minister Mashwama made these remarks after listening to her South African counterpart Tina Joemat-Pettersson appealing to Swaziland to come up with a con- crete power generation plan so that it reduces its reliance on imports.
“We’re all stressed out by the lack of sufficient energy in the re- gion, but I am hopeful that this will be resolved in the near future.

It is not insurmountable, but significant and we need to be focused,” said Mashwama.

“We will make finding a solution a priority so that our countries could develop as expected,” she added.

Mashwama said she was in support of the SADC Ministers’ resolution to adventure into renew- able energy sources.
She said such would help in conserving the envi- ronment and ensuring sustainable development.

“In the case of Swaziland, for example, we’d have to focus on bio-fuels and sourcing funding for our project plans,” she stated.

“The great Inga project of the DRC will also come in handy for the entire region.

Overall, Mashwama said she was upbeat about the strategies discussed in the SADC Ministers’ meeting.
The Minister was accompanied, among others, by the Director of Energy in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy Henry Shongwe and Swaziland Electricity Company’s Managing Director Sengiphile Sim- elane.

Also present was Vusi Mkhu- mane, CEO of the Swaziland Energy Regulatory Authority (SERA).
NEWS Times of Swaziland - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 PAGE 9 SA GOVT PUTS PRESSURE ON SWAZILAND Natural Resources and Energy Minister Honourable Jabulile Mashwama with her counterparts her SADC counterparts to provide the necessary leadership and support to develop the energy sector.

Minister Joemat-Pet- tersson said the region should be excited about the recent discoveries of gas in Mozambique and Tanzania.

She was, how- ever, quick to caution that renewable energy should be made a priority.
She further advised that the private sector should be roped in to assist with gen- eration and distribution, but not transmission.

“Every country must be in charge of its trans- mission, and dare not pri- vatise it in the interest of the poor,” she emphasised.
The meeting was in- ...We need to promote the cross-border inter-connector projects to catch up on the huge losses we’ve already made in as far as growing our economies is concerned... tended for the Ministers to note progress, make decisions and give guid- ance on implementation of the SADC Energy Programme aimed at facilitating and co-ordi- nating the availability of sufficient, reliable and cost-effective energy in the region.

About 11 Ministers out of 14 member-states attended.
It was preceded by a preparatory meeting of senior officials in the Energy Sector, as well as members of the Regional Electricity Regulators Association (RERA) and Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).

PROCEEDINGS THROUGH THE LENS 2 1.

The Swazi and South African Energy Ministers posing for the camera.

1 2.

The host welcoming the visitors.

IN STITCHES - Minister Mashwama with the Director of Energy in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy Henry Shongwe.
RIGHT: Also present was the Swaziland Electricity Company’s Managing Director Sengiphile Simelane and Vusi Mkhumane, CEO of the Swaziland Energy Regulatory Authority (SERA).

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE ENERGY MINISTERS MEETING  The meeting was attended by 11 out of 14 SADC Ministers responsible for Energy.

Apologies were received from Madagascar, while the DRC, Mozambique, Tanzania were represented by senior officials.
 SADC has a Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP 2015- 2020), which has an a component addressing four key energy security areas, namely; improving access to modern energy services, tapping on the abundant energy resources, up-scaling financial investment and enhancing environmental sustainability.

 The Ministers acknowledged the challenges on power supply against demand in the Member States.

The region has a capacity shortfall of 8,247 MW.


 Since 2014 some of the member states commissioned generation capacity amounting to 1999 MW.

These included Angola (150 MW), South Africa (1654 MW), Mozambique (150MW) and Zambia (245 MW).

About 83% of the installed capacity was generated from renewable energy resources (solar, wind and hydro-power).

 The region plans to commission 2,763 MW in 2015 mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
 Medium term measures to address the generation deficit include rehabilitation and generation projects within the region to achieve energy sufficiency by 2019.

This includes additional 24,062 MW of new generation capacity of which 70% is expected from renewable energy sources.
 Implementation of priority regional transmission projects will be sped-up, namely;the Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya (ZTK) Interconnector; Mozambique- Malawi Interconnector; Namibia-Angola Interconnector; Zimbabwe-Zambia-Botswana- Namibia (ZIZABONA) Transmission Project as well as the Mozambique-Zimbabwe-South Africa (MOZISA).

This is aimed at relieving the congestion on the regional grid to facilitate electricity trade.
 The Ministers have commended the World Bank for the financial assistance to the SAPP to the tune of USD 20 million for setting up a Project Advisory Unit (PAU) and seed funds for project packaging in order to accelerate implementation of regional projects.

 Twelve (12) out of the fifteen (15) SADC member states, including Swaziland, have introduced regulatory oversight and the remaining countries are at different stages of the process.
 No member-state managed to achieve cost reflectivity for electricity tariffs by 2013 as directed by the Heads of State in 2008 due to several factors.

Notably, most member states have taken the necessary steps and it is expected that the whole of SADC will reach full cost-reflective tariffs by 2019.

 A sizeable population may not afford economic energy prices and this may have an impact on the efforts to increase access to modern energy services in the region.
 Establishment of the SADC Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SACREEE) was approved.

It was also agreed that Namibia will host the centre.

 An invitation by South Africa to the South African International Renewable Energy Conference (SAIREC) in October 2015 was welcomed.