Politics getting in the way of experts fixing our electricity crisis

It’s time science, and not politics, becomes the main influence in the decision making that runs power utility Eskom and government’s energy policies.

This is the opinion of a number of experts, in the wake of South Africa’s most urgent electricity supply crisis, which has forced the country into a second week of load shedding.

Despite all logic pointing towards energy solutions already at the government’s fingertips, energy analyst Sampson Mamphweli says the move towards more sustainable energy solutions has been unreasonably slow, mostly because of the political implications of cutting down on fossil fuel based energy solutions.

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Renewables already cheaper than fossil fuels

It has recently been revealed that the 25 preferred bidders for the latest Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPP) programme has dramatically dipped renewable energy costs below that of fossil fuel power generation.

Window five of the REIPPP programme has seen renewable energy prices drop from an average R3.12 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in the first bidding window, to the cheapest bid coming in at 37.5 cents per kWh hour for solar and 34.4 cents per kWh for wind power.

Compare this to fossil fuel generated power, which currently costs Eskom up to R27 per kWh.

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Science must prevail over politics

Mamphweli says South Africa’s renewable energy programme already provides for 2,000kW of stored renewable energy. This means that in addition to adding to the current energy grid, renewable energy can also contribute to sizeable energy reserves, using battery storage technology for solar energy as well as hydroelectric energy.

“South Africa has intellectual wealth in what we call a national system of innovation, which includes universities and the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation. Innovation in energy can only continue through renewable energy technology and investment thereof.”

Despite this, Mamphweli says: “The only chance that this community gets to contribute to the process is the public participation process in the Integrated Resource Plan, which is not enough.”

Innovators and experts in the sciences which drive the development of power solutions need to have more of a say in how the country runs its energy system, he concludes.

Echoing this sentiment is CEO of renewable energy company Siemens Gamesa, Janek Winand. He has expressed concern that political sentiment may get in the way of Eskom and government making tough decisions around gradually cutting out coal power in favour of more sustainable options.

Because this could see an initial slashing of mining jobs and may be seen as unpopular in the industry as a whole, these considerations have made the switch to renewable power a hard sell.

But, Janek urges that it is only through allowing innovation to thrive and the liberation of the power generating market that real results can be achieved.

“I think that what we need is a stable grid and reliable electricity generation. There also needs to be a better grasp of the fundamentals of operational needs of Eskom and proper planning in terms of the demand and providing sufficient supply of electricity of which at the moment there is a gap, which is why there has been a need to curtail energy to certain customers,” says Winand.

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Renewables could bring down consumer price of electricity

“On one side we have possibilities of increasing improving and maintaining our existing power generating capacity and the ability to get new power generation capacity onto the grid.”

He adds that this will eventually make the consumer price for electricity cheaper as well, with the possibility of a rapid weaning of coal energy generation in favour of renewable energy.

Those projects which have been invested in by the department of energy will achieve this by the end of April 2022, which means those projects will be done in two years’ time.

That power will only be connected to the grid in May 2024 going forward and its to be seen how the consumer price will compare in the beginning. There will be a combination of factors contributing to the consumer price, including the costs of operating the grid and also on the production side of things.

REIPP projects in this bidding window are expected to be completed by 2024, during which time, Eskom is expected to continue with its liability maintenance programme, which will likely see a continued pattern of load shedding until the grid is stable again.

simnikiweh@citizen.co.za