South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has published a Gas Amendment Bill to bring legislation in line with more recent government policies and developments in the country’s gas sector.
The amendment bill, which has been made available for public comment, is expected to expand South Africa’s gas industry by addressing sustainability and competitive trade, while facilitating integrated energy projects as part of the sector’s development goals.
The document establishes new regulations aimed at enhancing the sector’s regulatory framework, promotes skills development and employment equity in the gas industry, and works to update many of the definitions related to the gas industry in the older Gas Act of 2001.
The amendment bill comes shortly after South Africa’s latest Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for 2023, which has placed particular emphasis on the development of natural gas.
The IRP anticipates 7,220 MW of new gas-to-power capacity by 2030, which is a significant upscaling of gas power from the 2019 IRP.
Of this new capacity, South Africa’s national electricity utility, Eskom, is expected to develop 3,000 MW while a further 3,000 MW is expected from independent producers. The remaining 1,220 MW is anticipated to derive from offshore power ship projects.
Further additions to the amendment bill focus on promoting the orderly development of South Africa’s gas industry, promoting broad-based Black economic empowerment in the sector, providing the means for new development and changing technologies in the sector, and providing a platform for cooperation between the private and public sectors.
The amendment bill also features the removal of a section from the previous Gas Act that deals with the sale of state assets, and features two additional sections, which allow for licenses to apply for exclusivity in the sale of gas in certain areas and to allow regulators to set minimum gas prices that may be changed.
