South African President Announces: Solar Feed-in Tariff And Permit Exemption Policy

In the face of a growing energy crisis, the South African government has announced a series of measures to support the development of renewable energy in South Africa.

In response to the electricity shortage, the South African government is committed to handing over more power to private power producers. The government will remove the licensing exemption threshold for embedded generation and introduce a feed-in tariff (FiT) mechanism for rooftop solar.

In an address to the nation on 25 July, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled the actions the government will take to address the energy crisis that South Africa has been facing over the past few weeks, namely daily power cuts.

A year after South Africa raised the minimum licensing exemption for embedded power generation from 1MW to 100MW, Ramaphosa announced the complete removal of the licensing threshold in an attempt to increase private investment in power generation.

Ramaphosa said, "While they no longer require a permit, all new power generation projects must still be registered with the regulator, comply with technical requirements for grid connection and our environmental legislation."

According to the president, in order to accelerate the completion of solar PV projects, which could take more than three years, South Africa's parliament will look at lowering regulatory requirements for a limited period of time for medium to low environmentally sensitive areas.