Ms SAMANTHA GRAHAM-MARÉ DEPUTY MINISTER OF ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA DEPARTMENT BUDGET VOTE ADDRESS TO NA BUDGET VOTE 10 10 July 2025 | Parliament, RSA.
Honourable Chairperson, Minister of Electricity and Energy, Honourable Members and fellow South Africans It is both a privilege and a responsibility to debate on the Electricity and Energy budget, today of all days – Global Energy Independence Day. In doing so, we affirm a principle that transcends line items and spreadsheets: That every rand spent by this government must deliver value, drive transformation, and forge a measurable difference in people’s lives. We are building more than megawatts. We are building a future. And that future must be visible in every rural classroom lit by clean energy, in every township enterprise powered by industrial opportunity, and in every young woman who no longer wonders if she belongs in the energy sector - because she already does. Chairperson This year, we secured a long-awaited and significant breakthrough, when Cabinet approved the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM). This is not just an energy roadmap - it is our renewable energy Industrialisation masterplan. SAREM lays the foundation for a renewable economy, one where we don’t just consume green technologies, we manufacture them. It maps out localisation opportunities across the value chain: Such as solar PV, batteries, inverters, and other critical components that should be made in South Africa, by South Africans. It links procurement to economic justice, and ensures that manufacturing, servicing, and innovation become sources of decent jobs and industrial growth. And through PowerUp, our national platform for sector-wide skills development and transformation, we are equipping women, youth, and persons with disabilities to enter these value chains - not as spectators, but as participants. SAREM is not the end of the transition. It’s the engine that will power it forward, inclusively and on an industrial scale. Our green hydrogen programme is no longer aspirational. It is moving, and it is doing so with clarity, purpose, and scale. Backed by the Green Hydrogen Commercialisation Strategy, we are unlocking catalytic investment through three high-impact hydrogen development corridors in the Northern Cape, the Eastern Cape as well as Gauteng and the Free State. These corridors will link production zones to water access, port logistics, transmission capacity, and export infrastructure. Work is under way to establish a Hydrogen Special Economic Zone (SEZ), aligning industrial policy and spatial planning, to attract global partners and unlock green value chains. This programme is also shaping a new continental energy diplomacy agenda. Through the G20 Energy Transition Working Group, South Africa is leading the development of the first-ever Roadmap for Sustainable Industrialisation Hubs in Africa. Developed in close consultation with G20 members and global partners, this roadmap is designed to align national and regional energy, industry, and infrastructure planning — while catalysing cross-border trade corridors, regional power pools, and shared infrastructure development. But our greatest opportunity is not only in exports: It is in jobs. That is why we are investing in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education, and integrating it into skills academies, bursary schemes, and enterprise support programmes tied to the green energy value chain. Through PowerUp and the EWSETA, we are supporting women and young people to become the welders, technicians, plant operators and entrepreneurs of this new frontier. We are also laying the groundwork for green hydrogen pipeline infrastructure, both physical and regulatory, to move us from pilot projects to export-scale production. Chairperson South Africa is already a global leader in one of the most critical and life-saving fields of nuclear science: Medical isotopes. Through our NTP Radioisotopes division at NECSA, we are among the world’s top producers of isotopes for cancer diagnostics and treatment, reaching patients in over 60 countries every day. To consolidate and expand this capability, government is prioritising the construction of a new Multipurpose Reactor (MPR). The MPR will ensure continuity of supply, enable cutting-edge research, support industrial and agricultural applications, and boost our position in global nuclear medicine markets. This is not just a scientific project, it’s an opportunity to drive transformation. NECSA is working to ensure that the MPR programme is a platform for skills development, STEM career pathways, and inclusive enterprise participation, especially for women and youth. We are also pleased to announce a significant milestone for the National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute (NRWDI), with the recent appointment of a new CEO - bringing strong leadership to a technically complex and nationally strategic mandate. NRWDI is responsible for the long-term management and safe disposal of radioactive waste. This year, it will assume operational responsibility of the Vaalputs Waste Facility, already recognised internationally as a benchmark of excellence. Looking ahead, NRWDI is progressing with plans to establish a Centralised Interim Storage Facility (CISF) for used nuclear fuel. Designed to centralise and secure high-level waste, the CISF will be built with 80% local content, create over 100 permanent jobs, and incorporate a strong gender and youth mainstreaming agenda. This demonstrates once again that even the most complex energy sectors can and must be inclusive. Honourable Members, No nuclear programme can exist without a regulator that is respected, independent and scientifically rigorous. That role is fulfilled by the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), which has once again achieved over 98% of its performance targets. The NNR has approved the long-term operation of Koeberg Unit 1, with Unit 2 currently under regulatory review. It has conducted full-scale safety exercises and significantly expanded radon monitoring in at-risk areas. Importantly, the NNR Amendment Act which came into effect on 4 June 2025, enhances the NNR’s enforcement powers, modernises its regulatory toolkit, and provides clear licensing pathways for emerging technologies such as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The NNR continues to invest in civic education, ensuring that nuclear safety is not hidden behind acronyms or misinformation. Chair If generation is the engine of the energy system, transmission is the circulatory system, and for too long, it has been under tremendous strain. We are now fixing that, with action, not aspiration. The Electricity Regulation Amendment Act (ERA) has brought key provisions into effect, enabling open access to the grid, multi-market structures, and competitive electricity trading. On 1 April 2025, the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA) came into full legal operation. NTCSA is now the licensed transmission entity, operating independently from Eskom and unlocking a transparent, rules-based grid environment. To scale up new infrastructure, the Department has launched the Independent Transmission Projects Procurement Programme (ITPPP), as mentioned by the Minister. This programme will target grid buildout in high-congestion corridors, crowd in private capital, and ensure that transmission infrastructure keeps pace with our generation ambitions. As always, localisation, transformation, and transparency will be non-negotiable pillars of procurement. This brings me to SANEDI, the quiet powerhouse driving our clean energy breakthroughs. The South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) continues to play a pivotal role in applied energy innovation and policy support, and its work touches nearly every part of our future energy system. From smart meters and digital grid pilots to electric vehicles and clean mobility, their focus isn’t research for research’s sake - it’s innovation with intent. They’re helping shape our Integrated Resource Plan and Gas Master Plan, advancing clean fuels and carbon capture technologies, supporting the beneficiation of critical minerals for local manufacturing, and playing a key role in executing South Africa’s Hydrogen Society Roadmap. It’s not flashy work, but it’s the foundation for everything that comes next. One of SANEDI’s current focus areas is the rollout of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), which will become mandatory by 7 December 2025 for public buildings over 1,000m² and private non-residential buildings over 2,000m². SANEDI is supporting municipalities and building owners to prepare, while also enabling a growing market in energy efficiency services and audits. Chairperson Access remains the unfinished business of energy justice. For that reason, South Africa is a signatory to the World Bank and African Development Bank’s Mission 300, which aims to provide energy access to 300 million Africans by 2030. And South Africa is not just participating; we are leading by example. Universal access is not a slogan. It is a commitment - one that reaches the schoolchild, the clinic, the farmer, and the household worker. It is about dignity, opportunity, and redress. Honourable Members, This budget is not just a collection of numbers — it is a blueprint for a different future. A future where a young woman codes a solar inverter, a township entrepreneur installs rooftop panels across her community, and a local factory opens its doors to build the components of our renewable economy. We are not just building an energy system. We are building a future that is industrial, inclusive, innovative, and proudly South African. I thank you. Ms SAMANTHA GRAHAM-MARÉ DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY AND ELECTRICITY