On 17 February 2016 the Cabinet of the Republic of South Africa (Cabinet) approved the gazetting of Renewable Energy Development Zones (REDZs).

REDZs refer to geographical areas where wind and solar PV development can occur in concentrated zones, which will lead to:

• a reduction of negative environmental consequences;
• alignment of authorisation and approval processes;
• attractive incentives; and
• focused expansion of the South African electricity grid.

Cabinet further stated that the REDZs will, among others, accelerate infrastructure development and contribute in creating a “predictable regulatory framework that reduces bureaucracy related to the cost of compliance”.

The Department of Environmental Affairs’ media statement issued in respect of the approved gazetting of the REDZs provided that eight REDZs and five Power Corridors have been identified. The gazetting of these areas means that projects within these areas will now only be subject to a Basic Assessment and not a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. This change will accelerate the assessment process, as scoping level pre-assessments would have been undertaken. As such an application for an Environmental Authorisation should be completed in 147 days, instead of 300 days.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) identified the following eight geographic areas for REDZ following a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA):

NAME                                          SIZE                                       PROVINCE

Overberg                                     5 263 sq km                            Western Cape

Komsberg                                    8 846 sq km                            Western Cape

Cookhouse                                  7 366 sq km                            Eastern Cape

Stormberg                                   12 041 sq km                          Eastern Cape

Kimberley                                    9 568 sq km                            Free State & Northern Cape

Vryburg                                        9 204 sq km                            North West

Upington                                     12 833 sq km                           Northern Cape

Springbok                                   15 214 sq km                           Northern Cape

Total                                            80 335 sq km

Currently one of the greatest challenges of South African renewable energy development is constraints on grid infrastructure, and the resulting timelines for and costs of grid expansion. The REDZs are anticipated to aid the future bidding rounds of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) by allowing for focused grid development and an alignment of approval processes in the REDZs. To date the REIPPPP has led to the procurement of 7000 MW of renewable capacity across 92 projects.

Written by Emma Dempster, Director and Adriaan van der Merwe, Associate, Projects and Infrastructure Practice, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr