Renewable power costly

Adam Craker repeats the fashionable nonsense that solar and wind for grid electricity are now cheaper than new coal (Eskom, other ailing SOEs need new business models, February 22). A quick glance at the real world rather than the fantasy world of CSIR models would show him they are ruinously expensive.

Our renewable power programme has forced Eskom to buy the most expensive electricity in SA’s history. In Eskom’s latest report, the average price at which it is compelled to buy solar and wind electricity is R2.05/kWh. Its own average selling price is R0.89/kWh. But it’s much worse. Most renewable power (solar PV and wind) is unreliable, intermittent junk. To convert it into reliable power is very expensive, which Eskom has to pay for, not the renewable companies. This is why in Germany, Britain, Australia, Denmark and everywhere else the trend is the same: the more wind and solar, the more expensive is electricity.

If PV panels were free, reliable grid electricity from solar PV would still be horribly expensive. Wind is worse. Only one solar or wind technology provides useful electricity. This is solar CSP with storage. The very latest such plant, Redstone, will charge at least R1.80/kWh off-peak and R5 onpeak. More expensive than Medupi and Kusile, let alone new nuclear.

Andrew Kenny

Sun Valley