While tabling the R2.2 trillion Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) before the Portfolio Committee on Electricity and Energy, the Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said the plan is nothing less than a means to turbocharge the South African economy, ensuring energy security, a balanced supply and a diversified energy mix to meet future demand.
The major cost driver of the IRP is the Nuclear Industrial Plan, which aims to resuscitate and localise nuclear energy expertise that has gradually been eroded. In his view, the biggest risk to this R2,2-trillion plan is not the money because there is an insatiable appetite already for this type of energy investment, but rather the fact that the South African nuclear industry was allowed to decline. He said the department is currently in conversation with university engineering departments to see how the higher education sector can provide the skills necessary to drive this nuclear industry plan.
During the round of questions from committee members, Mr Kevin Mileham asked the Minister how the committee is expected to appropriate R2,2 trillion without any documentation to support that figure. The Minister responded that the department was not before the committee to ask for money. Nothing will come from the fiscus to fund the project as it will all be funded entirely by the private sector. The Energy Planning Specialist of the department, Mr Sonwabo Damba, interjected here to say that all the information guiding the department’s thinking and planning on this matter will be published on the department’s website.
Other committee members, Mr Adil Nchabeleng and Mr Brian Molefe, pressed the Minister further on the issue of finances, saying it would be near impossible for the department to raise such a sum without a single guarantee from the Treasury. The Minister maintained that when the IRP is at a peak, the department will not need sovereign guarantees. Instead, the department will use credit guarantees.
Committee members were also worried that the cost of this new plan will be offloaded on consumers. However, the department’s acting Director-General, Mr Subesh Pillay, replied that the IRP is based on the least-cost principle. The idea of opening up the IRP to the energy market is to ensure it is not an expense for the consumer. He added that the department’s pricing policy will also ensure that there are safety nets to ensure the new integrated energy is affordable. “But also, we want to see how we can utilise energy pricing to instigate industrial growth and economic participation,” he said.
When asked by Mr Nchabeleng how renewable energies would be accommodated into a grid that is struggling to keep up with current energy demands, the minister responded that there are now technologies that can protect the capacity of a grid.
In the light of the above assertions and skepticism levelled against the IRP, acting Chairperson of the portfolio committee Ms Fasiha Hassan asked for the Minister’s comment on criticism that the IRP is hopelessly ambitious. The Minister replied that, in the context of the global political economy, this argument is an ideological one. He explained: critics of the IRP want the dominant energy source to be renewables. They also vilify coal, South Africa’s natural endowment. Hence, the criticism is ideological, as it seeks to suppress South Africa’s sovereign right to exploit our own endowment to advance our social and economic development. The criticism is not merely about energy; it’s also about the country’s sovereignty.
In closing, Ms Hassan noted that future engagements on the IRP are necessary to gain further insights into its themes and to allow South Africans to participate in the development of IRP policy and legislative frameworks.
Abel Mputing
5 November 2025
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