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The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Mr Gwede Mantashe (MP) has yesterday, 26 March 2020, gazetted an amended version of Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act 4 of 2006).

In his State of the Nation address (2020), HE President Cyril Ramaphosa announced measures government will take to rapidly and significantly change the trajectory of energy generation in our country. These measures included the registration of small- scale distributed generation for own use of under one megawatt (1MW), for which licencing is not required.

To give effect to the above commitment, the amendment of Schedule 2 further clarifies the requirements for generation for own use for facilities of under 1MW. The schedule exempts - under certain circumstances - categories of generation facilities and resellers from the requirement to hold a generation licence.

The Integrated Resource Plan 2019 (IRP2019) makes provision for distributed generation and therefore generation for own use of 1MW and above. This inclusion has removed the need for a Ministerial approval for deviation from the IRP before NERSA can process a generation license application. To this end, the regulatory hurdles previously experienced have been addressed.

The Department continues to work and engage with the sector to help address any challenges they may still be experiencing.

Issued by Department of Energy