By IANS,
Durban: South African President Jacob Zuma Saturday endorsed the establishment of the South African Renewables Initiative (SARi) funding mechanism during the 17th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“South Africa has an ambitious renewable energy plan and is promoting investments in the fields of renewable energy, marine aquaculture development, wildlife management, waste services as well as ecosystem rehabilitation programs to name just a few,” Zuma said, reported Xinhua.
He was speaking to business leaders at the opening of the World Climate Business Summit in Durban.
The president said Pretoria will soon announce the results of the bidding process for the first 3.725 megawatts of green energy to be procured under Renewable Energy Flagship Program.
He said South Africa “plans to scale this up to at least 18 Gigawatts, to account for 42 percent of new capacity being commissioned.”
According to the president, the biggest barriers to developing renewable energy in Africa to date are not technological, but financial. “In that regard South Africa has been hard at work in the development and design of financial instruments aligned to our national plans for green growth,” Zuma told business leaders.
Zuma said the SARi funding mechanism would help South Africa unlock its green growth potential through the funding of large- scale renewable developments.
The SARi model will enable the country to deal with the high cost through low cost loans and other financial instruments combined with time limited pay-for-performance grants.
South Africa is committed to reduce carbon emissions by 34 percent by 2020 and by 42 percent by 2025.