AMSA’s new 100MW renewable energy project in Western Cape welcomed

Statement by Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier:

The announcement today, 13 April 2022, that ArcelorMittal South African (AMSA) will develop a 100MW renewable energy project, in the province, is good news for the economy, good news for job creation, particularly in Saldanha Bay, and good news for the push towards improved energy resilience in the Western Cape.

We are delighted that AMSA is taking advantage of the amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act that allow for private sector generation projects of up to 100MW without licensing, and that they have chosen the Western Cape as one of the two provinces in which to set up these 100MW projects.

Private sector investments like this will compliment our own efforts in government to drive energy resilience in the Western Cape.

To this end, we are working to enable municipalities and the private sector to take advantage of the new energy regulations, through our Municipal Energy Resilience (MER) Initiative.

The MER Initiative is aimed at reducing business costs, building business confidence, and attracting investment by supporting the implementation of renewable energy generation capacity, in municipalities across the province.

This is to allow municipalities, businesses and households, to generate, procure and sell electrical energy.

Together we are steadily moving towards mitigating the impact of loadshedding, and towards a cleaner, greener, more energy secure future in the Western Cape.