Clean Energy Should Fill The Eskom Void

As Eskom struggles financially, independent power producers should be allowed to step up and fill the electricity-generation gap.

- Thobelani Maphumulo

The domestic electricity supply has experienced unendurable volatility in recent years, adversely affecting economic performance. This has stimulated the discourse about energy security and electricity-generation technologies.

On the whole, the energy policy framework should be underpinned by these five considerations: electricity demand outlook, low carbon emissions, sufficient reserve margin, investments and job creation. The department of energy’s integrated resource plan provides guidelines on the character of the energy sector in the years ahead. To a great degree, government subscribes to the fidelities of clean energy.

South Africa is one of the top emitters of carbon dioxide in the world due to Eskom’s coal-fired power stations and Sasol’s coal-to-liquid plants, located in Mpumalanga. These two companies account for more than 50% of the country’s carbon emissions.

The 2015 Paris Agreement’s central effort is to keep global average temperature increases below 2°C above the pre-industrialisation level. Average global temperatures are rising at a disquieting rate, expected to reach 4°C at the end of this century. It is imperative to reduce the role of fossil fuels – coal-fired power stations and gas (methane releases carbon when it burns) – in the global electricity-generation mix. Currently, solar and wind technologies contribute a third to global electricity generation; the target contribution is 50% by 2050.