TO ALL MEDIA/NEWS EDITORS SAREM STAKEHOLDERS ENCOURAGED TO COMMENT ON PROPOSALS TO BOOST LOCAL MANUFACTURING 31 March 2026
I encourage all partners and stakeholders who are part of the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM) value chains to comment on the latest proposals from the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC). The Commission proposes to raise tariffs and end staged consignments for identified renewable energy components. Some of these include fully assembled lithium batteries, solar panels, single-axis trackers, inverters, fasteners, wind tower sections, and many more steel and auxiliary parts.
The ITAC proposals were published on 27 March 2026 by the Minister of Trade, Industry & Competition, Parks Tau. While SAREM is led by the Department of Electricity & Energy, we are working closely with the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (DTIC). SAREM is intended to maximise local production of components that underpin South Africa's rapid roll-out of renewable energy across the public and private sectors. However, SAREM is a pragmatic, demand-led plan based on first promoting and protecting manufactured components on which we are already competitive.
At the Cabinet adoption of SAREM in March 2025, the local industry had already identified over 4000 components that South Africa has existing capability and capacity to manufacture and scale up production as demand rises. To achieve this, as government, we need to provide a stable, enabling environment with predictable long-term demand, clear incentives, and rational protections to drive investment. SAREM was developed and is being driven by a broad-based representation of government, public entities, business, industry associations, organised labour, NPOs, and community representatives.
The issue of staged consignments has been thoroughly researched by the Local Content Compliance Unit (LCCU), a key initiative under the Steel Industry Compliance and Support Fund - a strong partnership between DTIC and the steel sector.
Staged consignments have been identified as a direct threat to existing manufacturing. Over 300 jobs in steel tower manufacturing in Atlantis, Cape Town, are directly threatened by staged consignments. We must protect investments in local manufacturing before talking about new manufacturing opportunities. Any measures taken must be carefully considered. I believe that the current ITAC proposals achieve this.
Maintaining sustainable local manufacturing in these existing components, will assist in laying the foundation for future investment in new components. Already, the Localisation Support Fund (LSF) has completed feasibility studies into Vanadium Redox Flow (VRF) batteries and Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery cell manufacturing.
I welcome the proposals by ITAC and would like to thank my colleagues in the GNU for the strong collaboration in this work. I would also like to thank the excellent work and collaboration between the DEE Sarem team, DTIC, ITAC, and the LCCU on this issue as a real step in advancing Sarem.
All stakeholders have 4 weeks (until 24 April) to comment on the proposals, which must be sent to rmolala@itac.org.za, nsikhakhana@itac.org.za and pmatsepane@itac.org.za (ITAC Ref: 21/2024)
For media enquiries:
Marcellino Martin, Media Liaison in the Office of the Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy on 082 721 3362/ Marcellino.martin@dee.gov.za
Tsakane Khambane, Spokesperson in the Ministry of Electricity and Energy on 082 084 5566 / Tsakane.Khambane@dee.gov.za
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA