The Establishment’s antibodies fight back and other great stories for you
A couple of particularly interesting articles in Biznews Premium this morning. I've unpacked the way The Establishment's antibodies reacted against UK disruptor Metro Bank – plenty of lessons there for anyone thinking of entering that market, Brexit or not. And Felicity Duncan takes a critical look at the suggestion that Eskom's way out of its troubles lies with renewables. Just two more reasons for you to consider Biznews Premium if you haven't yet succumbed to my urgings.
On that score, I recently put together a short video showing subscribers how to get the most out of their Premium subscription. It might provide the required encouragement for non-subscribers: have a watch by clicking here. The video doesn't cover another popular feature – the super popular WhatsApp channel (anonymous and to which only our team posts) which is also exclusive to Biznews Premium subscribers. The free 30 day offer also still applies. So what are you waiting for?
An error slipped into the Daily Insider yesterday. My apologies. We put the 10X outperformance at 42%. It was actually 34%. Sorry about that. But the point is still very well made. Watch those costs before committing to an investment. The power of compounding together with lower returns that accompany weaker inflation means things often easily ignored now make a huge difference.
Comment from Biznews community member Ralph Thompson
Greetings Alec,
I quite enjoy your articles that you and your merry men and ladies write. I will be attending the Transvaal Scottish Ball in July with one of your favourite subjects, Paul O'Sullivan whom I have known for many years. I look forward to the entertainment which will undoubtedly take place on the evening, and here i refer to more than Paul's many anecdotes.
I am involved in solar and as I am sure you are very aware, Eskom is not salvageable. Here is why:
There is already more than 1200MW of renewable energy systems on various farms around SA, due to NERSA, government and Eskom ineptocracy, their applications do not get processed so that they can push excess power back into the grid. This could greatly assist Eskom in keeping the lights on, so why the delay in processing these applications, other than a complete lack of will (and the knowledge that most of them are obsolete without Eskom as it currently is).
Eskom's customer base of paying customers is shrinking drastically as more consumers, both private and commercial, opt for a more stable and reliable power source, ultimately Eskom becomes the last resort in supplying power.
Hybrid systems that use PV as the initial source, battery as the secondary source (sometimes linked to a 3rd source being a back-up generator) and lastly Eskom as a last resort when there has been a few rainy days.
The knock-on effect this has is that while regularly paying customers are diminishing, the price of Eskom escalates and renewables becomes even more cost effective, the non-paying customers increase the burden and therefore the cost of electricity. This leads to an even bigger increase in Eskom kWh cost. This leads to more paying customers moving to renewables. At what point does this collapse, if it is not already close to that point? It is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Block chain has worked in Europe and renewables are the answer:
Encouraging renewables means you have multiple generation points all feeding into the grid, most houses during the day would not have need of most of their generation capacity. Imagine a million houses in Johannesburg each pushing 20 kWh each into the grid, that is 20 000 000kWh a day (20 000MW). Start including some warehouses into the mix whose kWh use is minimal but their roof space substantial, you suddenly have a substantial amount of power. But wait! there is more!
You can now downsize Eskom's generation division as a top-up. when the grid is under strain instead of primary power source. This will still be a necessity as renewables are not always guaranteed to be on-line due to inclement weather.
There is now only maintenance on the grid itself (distribution) individual owners now take care of their own power generation and maintenance. Eskom can buy or credit the power and still add on an admin fee of sorts and re-sell it to other users, thereby still being relevant and way cheaper than current rates.
Because these grids are inter-connected albeit on a smaller scale, cable theft has less of an impact, I can buy from my neighbour whilst the problem is resolved.
Most of my customers that have opted for a hybrid system that is correctly sized (some scale down due to the initial capital outlay) use between 2-8% Eskom during the course of a year. You can draw your own conclusions from that and why Eskom is in no rush to push renewables. The unions hold way too much sway over logical and cost effective power generation. I encourage as many people as I can to get off the grid, I suspect come May 9, the phone will ring non-stop!
Love your work!
I hope you do not mind but I do use your articles on my website's blog, digital media is my work in progress.