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Breaking news and analyst commentary on the ever-changing energy sector in South Africa. Including conventional and renewable energy sectors and the latest energy producing and storing technologies.
South Africa’s power utility Eskom is repeatedly flagged up as a significant blight on the investment landscape and is often cited as a significant drag on economic growth.
Loadshedding is not going anywhere soon, with Eskom still in serious trouble and the national power grid under constant strain.
University of the Witwatersrand experts explain how Eskom is in a catch-22 bind, as a result of its debt.
South Africa unveiled its long-awaited plan to save Eskom, including exposing it to greater competition, lowering fuel costs, increasing renewable-energy output and selling non-core assets.
It has become a recurring refrain in South Africa; another state-owned enterprise in trouble with barely enough funds to pay their staff looking for a government bailout.
Energy expert Chris Yelland unpacks what went wrong in the latest loadshedding schedule imposed on electricity users and concludes that it is “the stuff of nightmares.”
In South Africa, solar and wind are in, and coal is gradually on the way out. That’s the key takeaway from the latest IRP, which maps out the energy mix for the next decade.
There are a few hard truths, and numbers. Eskom’s debt is at more than R440bn and rising, according to the power utility’s own financials.
It seems President Ramaphosa’s on-off $11bn climate fund plan that stands to turn Mpumalanga into one of the world’s largest renewable energy generators, actually exists.
Energy analyst, Chris Yelland says there is evidence already in the coal export industry of decline and the industry should start preparing for a future without coal.