As a registered stakeholder, The Southern African Alternative Energy Association (SAAEA) is publishing a series of articles to highlight the process and ensure effective participation by our members.
Closing date for first round of comments is 12pm 11th June 2010.
Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) is the process by which the requirement for investment in generation capacity for South Africa is determined. The first and interim IRP was developed in 2009 by the Department of Energy. The initial four years of this plan was promulgated by the Minister of Energy on 31 December 2009, updated on 29 Jan 2010.
Although the regulations refer to resource planning, it should be clear that this is only about electricity planning. The future development of the IRP draws its mandate from the Electricity Regulations for New Generation Capacity, promulgated by the Department of Energy (DOE) on 5 August 2009.
29 input parameters have been identified as critical to the modelling process for the IRP. Each of these Parameters has an associated Fact Sheet, which describes to the stakeholder the nature, impact, value, ranges of values and other pertinent information on the parameter and it’s importance to the final IRP. The first stage of consultation (post registration) will be the comment on the values of these parameters. Once agreement has been reached on the values, these values will then be used in the modelling process.
Disclaimer:
These draft proposed sheets are provided to the stakeholders to ensure effective participation in the IRP consultation process. These sheets are provided as a tool to guide the provision of comments on the first stage of consultation (core assumptions and inputs to the IRP). The Department of Energy may release additional sheets if information comes to light or further assumptions are defined during this process. All figures represent the values used during the development of the IRP1 and are open to consultation and input from the stakeholders. Range values provided merely to guide the stakeholders and do not represent any fixed decision by Government. Stakeholders are encouraged to provide alternative figures supported by the relevant studies and information.
There are several documents. Each of these represent a core assumption or key output of the IRP process and allow the stakeholders to understand the input parameters of the IRP and provide input into each of / or just on some of the sheets. These sheets are:
Demand Parameters









Supply Parameters












Externalities



Key Outputs



SAAEA invites comments on this subject to be included in our report to the DOE.