Is the Energy Action Plan a newfound privatisation scheme? What stoked my apprehension is Adil Nchabeleng’s column “Ramokgopa, to err is to be human, but tomorrow can you ensure there is light?” (“BR” Energy, March 6).
Nchabeleng revealed that the European-based vision generation benefit (VGBe) consortium’s report was reduced to the unmentionable. If indeed a base load power plant can run indefinitely, then why is the government resorting to decommissioning or shutting down coal-fired stations in the midst of load shedding?
Nchabeleng shed light on the solution for the rolling blackouts crippling the economy: invest in the generation capacity of coalbased resources as well as rebuilding and overhauling Eskom power plants. That’s cost-effective with considerations for the long-term base load capacity.
The Just Energy Transition harbingers seem convinced of the need for solar and wind farms as an ideal energy in transit to supply the grid without interruption, presumably perceiving that the government had been won over.
Yet some energy generation technologies have portability challenges constraining the system to feed seamlessly into the grid, demanding independent power producers (IPP) invest in an adaptable transmission network.
What’s disturbing is the faulty assumption that the energy generation from alternative power would end load shedding. This is probably based on the theory that one form of energy can be transformed into an equivalent amount of another form.
You don’t need to be an expert to know that these renewables aren’t designed to transmit energy over a long distance.
Mind you, due to their dependability on a climate, there’s no guarantee that they would reach 30% of capacity every peak usage time during prolonged unfavourable weather conditions.
That being the case, the pendulum is swinging back to a warning of 1998, which went unheard, only to find ourselves without lights in 2008.
* Morgan Phaahla, Ekurhuleni.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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