S. Africans want fair share on energy

DE AAR, South Africa－The grassy greens and browns of South Africa's semidesert Karoo region are fast becoming dotted with flashes of silver and white, as solar and wind farms spring up across the vast, sun soaked land in Northern Cape Province.

But nearby communities say that even as profits trickle into their towns, more can be done to fairly distribute the benefits from renewable energy they believe belongs to them.

"There was excitement when we saw the (solar) panels being built," said Rose Bailey, a social worker in De Aar, a town of about 24,000 inhabitants between Kimberley and Cape Town.

"We thought it would bring employment and electricity to our homes－but we are still struggling, and we still have power cuts."

Climate policy experts are looking to South Africa, Africa's biggest carbon emitter, as the poster child for developing nations seeking to shift from fossil fuels to green energy in a way that reduces poverty for all－a so-called just transition.

At November's United Nations climate summit, rich nations pledged to provide $8.5 billion in funding to help South Africa move away from coal.

The country remains heavily reliant on coal but already has in place a decade-old program that procures clean energy from independent power producers, or IPPs, to feed into the national grid, while aiming to empower local communities.

IPPs must also meet social criteria, including giving communities a 2.5 to 5 percent stake in the project, with most setting up trusts to channel income where it is most needed.

But financial research house Intellidex recently found that IPP share dividends for communities have so far been largely spent on paying back loans to development finance institutions that enabled the trusts to buy their shares in the first place.

It also highlights the need for community members to be heard, both within the trusts and IPP management.

"It comes down to the dignity of people," said Leon Oliphant, a trustee of the Umlilo community trust and resident of De Aar, one of the first towns to welcome the IPPs.

"They need to be partners, not just on the receiving end of charity."

The IPP plants have added 6,000 megawatts of power to the national grid, which struggles with a lack of capacity and has been forced to carry out "load shedding", or planned power cuts, since 2007 when demand exceeds supply.

In De Aar, a new IPP solar plant is expected to be up and running before the end of this year once labor recruitment is completed.

But to spread the benefits from this model of decentralized power production more equitably, Intellidex researchers said community involvement in the trusts should be prioritized.

"You can't have shared growth if you don't have shared ownership," said Neville Gabriel, executive chairperson of community trust Sibona Ilanga.

Ntsikelelo Tshandu, a butcher from the nearby farming hub of Britstown, said Sibona Ilanga had plugged money into his business, connected him to soup kitchens and kept him afloat during the COVID-19 lockdown.

But Themsile Msengana, senior manager of corporate services for Emthanjeni municipality that has a population of 45,000 and covers De Aar, said IPP related employment had been short-lived.

During construction, about 70 percent of the 3,000 jobs created went to locals, but it was unskilled temporary work.

Once up and running, the solar and wind farms will employ 15 to 20 local people in cleaning and security, but their specialist workforce will mainly come from big cities or other countries.

Agencies via Xinhua