Eskom dominates the energy scene in South Africa. As the incumbent utility, it owns over 40GW of generating capacity, almost all of it coal-fired, making it on its own reckoning one of the top 10 utilities in the world. It also had the decency to be the major sponsor of the ISES Solar World Congress, helping enable it to come to Africa.
The energy dilemmas in South Africa illustrate in one country many of the energy issues faced globally. There is a massive divide between the energy ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. Eskom’s figures quoted in one of their presentations to the Solar World Conference were that just 135 customers are responsible for over 40% of demand, and the largest 80,000 customers account for some 75% of demand. The remaining 8 million customers share out the final 25%.
Most of the larger customers are of course industrial users, the smaller customers residential consumers, and there is then very significant further inequality of energy consumption amongst this group. Demand is growing rapidly, and, particularly in the light of load-shedding that hit the economy hard, the politicians want to see results in the form of more power for more people. Trying to balance the large scale needs of a few major industrial customers while meeting growing demand and extending the electrical service into rural areas, all while under intense political pressure, is clearly an awkward position to be in.
As the old saying goes, “for every complex problem, there is a simple solution – but it’s wrong”. Eskom are reaching for what appears to them to be the simple solution; they are planning more coal-fired power. Sidings technology that might even have to be mothballed even before it's used much as the climate threat grows.
I hope they have been paying attention; the long-term answers are all in front of them. For instance, Harry Lehmann from the German Federal Environment Agency outlined some of the many studies showing how 100% renewable energy is achievable, could cover not only electrical needs but also heating, cooling and transport energy use for residential, industrial and commercial customers, and can meet demand on the current networks. Much of this is covered in our book 100 Per Cent Renewable – Energy Autonomy in Action which has just been published.
Maybe that sponsorship will have an unexpected pay-off after all.
