Eskom is right about renewables
Last week Eskom put out a statement saying that renewable energy is costing it a fortune. Eskom is forced to buy expensive and unreliable solar and wind electricity from the REIPPPP (renewable energy programme) whether it needs it or not, which it usually doesn’t.
Eskom said that in 2016 it had paid R12.2 billion for renewable energy with a benefit to itself of R3.2 billion. This represented a net loss of R9 billion.
Eskom is being too polite. It didn’t mention the huge extra costs solar and wind electricity impose on the grid because of their unreliable fluctuations and the fact they seldom produce electricity at times of peak demand.
Eskom passes on these costs to its customers. The more solar and wind we have on the grid, the more we shall pay for our electricity. This is true for every country in the world that uses renewable electricity.
Renewable electricity has two champions.
First, the green activists. These are to be found in Greenpeace, Earthlife Africa and in the energy modelling groups of the CSIR and the department of energy. They just love the gigantic wind turbines and colossal solar plants that now blight so much of the gentle countryside of Europe. They want to dominate nature.
Second, the big power companies who are making a fortune in South Africa through the REIPPPP. They are making fat profits from South Africa’s electricity consumers.
Both groups were outraged by Eskom’s statement but neither denied it was true. They said that, yes, the REIPPPP has been extremely expensive so far but will become cheaper in future, with wind and solar photovoltaic as cheap as 62 cents/kWh (kilowatt-hour). By comparison, Koeberg’s electricity costs less than 40 cents/kWh.
As usual they didn’t explain this is 62 cents for an unreliable kWh, which has little if any value. To make it reliable requires expensive back-up generation and spinning reserve, which Eskom must pay for.
Only one renewable technology can deliver reliable electricity at times of peak demand. This is Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) with storage.
The Bokspoort CSP plant charges 280 cents/kWh (Eskom’s average costs are about 62 cents/ kWh and its average selling price is about 85 cents/kWh).