Where to with SA’s electricity?
IT’S becoming clearer that the country’s electricity supply system is no longer sustainable. This is true for two main reasons.
First, South Africa’s electricity comes largely from ageing coal plants. The global outlook for coal power generation is negative given coal’s contribution to climate change. Second, Eskom is in a precarious financial position even though it holds a monopoly in the power sector.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has set up a presidential task team to explore optimal ways to address the issues. One of its remits is to come up with a new role for Eskom.
But the most contentious issue is the role of coal in the future energy mix. The task team will probably endorse the gradual closure of coal power plants over the next 30 years.
But winding down the country’s dependency on coals will take huge political will, as well as workable plans to mitigate against job losses. Tied to this is a move towards renewable energy. Energy specialists argue reliable and cost-effective electricity can best be supplied by the massive expansion of renewable energy capacity.
There are different viewpoints on the future of energy. This includes diehard supporters of nuclear power as well as those who want to maintain the coal-dominated status quo.
The ANC kicked off the debate in its election manifesto published last month. It detailed a vision of major investment in renewable energy. The manifesto noted that the cost of electricity from renewables continued to fall internationally.
The document stated that there was a need to “reposition Eskom to play an active role in the renewable energy sector and promote public ownership in renewable energy infrastructure”.
Eskom’s role is one change being mooted. Another is deregulation. For example, the DA supports the privatisation of the electricity sector.
The advance of the new renewable energy technologies threatens previously well-established power technologies. Energy from coal in particular will be declining. South Africa is a major coal exporter. Any move against coal would put the coal mining sector in a precarious position. And talk of winding down coals has spawned fears of major job losses.
Coal and nuclear lobby groups have upped the ante with a campaign targeting the independent power producers based on the high cost of the electricity supplied by the earliest solar and wind farms. This ignores the fact that the latest renewable plants produce electricity at a cost lower than would be the case from new coal or Hartmut Winkler, professor of physics, University of Johannesburg