SA’s power woes ‘will persist’

Africa’s biggest renewable power company said it will take years for South Africa’s electricity supply woes to ease after the government’s bias toward coal led to the collapse of wind and solar energy manufacturers.

That legacy is being exacerbated by global supply chain issues that are slowing the construction of renewable plants, Chris Antonopoulos, CEO of Amsterdam-based Lekela Power, said.

South Africa is suffering its worst ever power cuts as the aging and poorly maintained coal-fired plants of Eskom suffer frequent breakdowns. Under President Cyril Ramaphosa, the continent’s most industrialised country is now pushing for more renewable energy, but it’s still reliant on coal for more than 80% of its power.

“There were two or three years when Eskom was arguing that coal was better and cheaper,” Antonopoulos said. In this period, where “nothing happened, a lot of the local industry collapsed”, he said.

During a five-year period when South Africa halted a programme to acquire renewable energy for the grid, companies set up to make towers for wind turbines failed, and there is little local manufacturing capacity for solar panels.

“That cannot be re-established from one day to another,” Antonopoulos said, adding that it will take two to three years before the wind and solar plants ordered by the government start to improve the power situation. “The current government is doing a lot. I am so happy that they have changed.”

Government-run auctions for the provision of renewable energy have restarted and have been increased in size.