(1) With reference to the reply of the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Mr S G Mantashe, to question 2266 on 30 June 2023, that the grid capacity constraints has no linkage with Karpowership and in view of Eskom’s Generation Connection Capacity Assessment of the 2024 Transmission Network that a total of 1220MW is being reserved for Karpowership (details furnished), furthermore considering that there is an urgent need to end load shedding and noting that although during Bid Window 6 of the Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme, only 1000MW out of 4200MW was procured and the rest were rejected in the Eastern and Western Cape, due to insufficient grid space, the grid space remains reserved since 2021 for Karpowership in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Richards Bay, and given that Karpowership’s environmental authorisations remain refused and the current court cases on its generation licences could take many years to resolve,
(a) what is the justification for the prioritisation of the Karpowership deal over adding new capacity through wind and solar energy and (b) by what date will the portion of the grid reserved for the Karpowership be released; (2) whether, given that Karpowership is holding up the grid space and the urgency to end the loadshedding, there will be a limit to the extension that is being given to Karpowership to reach the commercial and financial deadline; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what is the (a) current and (b) final commercial and financial close deadline for Karpowership; (3) given the grid constraints, what laws, policy and/or factors does Eskom rely on
in its decision to (a) reserve the grid for independent power producers (IPPs) before commercial and financial close deadline and (b) release the grid that is reserved for a particular IPP?