By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has launched the Energy One-Stop Shop (EOSS), as well as the Energy Resilience Fund (ERF), as part of efforts to streamline the process of renewable energy project development and to enable more investment.
The EOSS is aimed at fast-tracking energy projects, in line with government’s broader effort over the last few years to increase the supply of energy available to the grid.
This is part of the Energy Mitigation Strategy through the National Energy Crisis Committee. President Cyril Ramaphosa had tasked Invest South Africa to establish an Energy One Stop Shop to deal with and fast track applications from energy developers.
The Energy One Stop Shop is expected to input to the streamlining of regulatory processes required for private investment in electricity generation, facilitate pre-investment screening for all energy projects and thereby fast-track the approval of energy applications.
The requirement for predictable energy availability has led the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) to formulate a series of interventions, including alternative energy generation solutions, storage and efficiency measures aimed at supporting businesses to become energy resilient.
Speaking during the launch, Patel said the Energy One Stop Shop was developed to address a key constraint that energy developers face, namely that the many regulatory and other measures that need to be complied with, can and do slow down approval of energy supply projects.
“The Energy One Stop Shop and Energy Resilience Fund are critical steps towards alleviating the challenges faced by our industries during this energy crisis. We are committed to fostering a resilient business environment and accelerating private-sector investment in electricity generation to secure a stable energy future,” Patel said.
Patel said government is committed to fostering a resilient business environment and accelerating private-sector investment in electricity generation to secure a stable energy future.
Chief Executive Officer of Energy Council of South Africa James Mckay said South Africa is re-shaping the regulatory landscape to facilitate the energy transition to distributed, decentralised and traded energy.
“There is significant reform still required and the One-Stop-Shop will play a significant role in developing this evolving landscape,” Mckay said.
Mckay said they need all technologies, collaborative partnerships and significant investment.
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition said it had availed R240 million to be administered by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) under the Manufacturing Competitiveness Enhancement Programme’s Energy Resilience Fund to support companies through interest-free loans, while R150 million will be dispersed in partnership with the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) to support businesses operating in townships.
NEF strategic projects manager Andile Stemela confirms that the initial R200-million injection into the fund will be reviewed regularly to determine whether more funding is needed.
He added that the NEF also offers its Alternative Energy Fund (AEF) as a financing solution for SMEs, which has the benefit of repayment only starting after 12 months. The NEF has 40 projects in various stages of development under the AEF.
Some of the projects have tenures up to 84 months, which Stemela says can be offered for more companies if need be. The NEF requires businesses to be tax-compliant and registered legal entities, before they can access between R200 000 and R5-million worth of funding for energy projects.
The AEF loans also come with the added benefit of a 2% interest rate, which NEF believes is more affordable for SMEs than most other financing options. More information to this effect can be found on the NEF’s website.