Picture: THINKSTOCK
The regulation is in line with the Cabinet decision in 2007 to use biofuels as a means of diversifying the country’s energy supplies. MANDATORY blending of biofuels with petrol and diesel will come into effect from October 1 2015, Energy Minister Ben Martins said yesterday.
The regulation is in line with the Cabinet decision in 2007 to use biofuels as a means of diversifying the country’s energy supplies.
A five-year pilot project was envisaged with the aim of achieving a 2% biofuels penetration into the national liquid fuels pool.
According to the Department of Energy, Cabinet-approved incentives such as a 50% rebate on the general fuel levy for biodiesel manufacturers and a three-year accelerated depreciation on the investment had failed to attract investors, and so a more effective regulatory support was needed.
The effective date for the commencement of the blending has taken into consideration the time required to finalise the biofuels pricing framework, which will happen before the end of this year.
The department said this will also take into account the infrastructure for the development and supply of blending biofuels.
In August, Parliament’s energy committee criticised the department for the slow pace of implementing the biofuels strategy.
MPs from all parties accused the department of making no headway in implementing the strategy. They said at the time that the biofuels strategy had the potential to create between 20,000 and 25,000 jobs, and called on Mr Martins to implement it urgently.
Independent Democrats MP Lance Greyling welcomed Mr Martins’s move yesterday. “This means that investment in the plants and refineries that will turn the feedstock into biofuel can now start. The department should have set the date a long time ago,” he said.
Mr Greyling said contractors slated to do the plant construction and conversion work had complained to the energy committee that their quotes were based on figures set some time ago. “They could not work on their conversions, the refineries could not start blending and...
