Paul Semple: Renewable projects helped reduce loadshedding, created jobs

A government initiative with a long-winded title (Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme aka REIPPPP) is not only seeking to ease the load of more traditional energy sources, but is actually successfully doing so. By agreeing to buy energy from co-funded renewables projects and placing it back onto the grid, an incredibly successful and encouraging private-public partnership is working within our borders and there is some evidence to show that these projects have significantly contributed to the reduction in loadshedding over the last few cold months. Futuregrowth is a material funder of some of these projects through capital it raises from pension funds. Paul Semple, portfolio manager at Futuregrowth explains how these initiatives not only may go a long way to aiding in the alleviation of electricity shortages, but also how job creation and social upliftment in geographically difficult areas has increased materially as a result. – Candice Paine