Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has again swatted aside calls for a 50 MW licence-exemption threshold for distributed-generation plants, describing such calls, which have been made by organised business and even endorsed by Eskom, as “academic” in light of a departmental survey showing that mines, factories and farms were satisfied with an increase in the cap to only 10 MW. Delivering his Budget Vote amid a return to load-shedding, Mantashe said some 10 000 respondents had been surveyed and had indicated that they would not be ready to pursue projects larger than 10 MW in size.
