Renewable energy can be commissioned quickest and cheapest, but the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy is still refusing to acknowledge this truth – and doesn’t even give it credit for being cleanest.
As a servant of the South African people, the department should be forced to roll out the red carpet for investors who are champing at the bit to take full advantage of South Africa’s superior sunlight, prime wind, available land and abundance of climate-friendly energy funding.
The department should be instructed that the decarbonised platform that the renewables option provides must take precedence over all other mixes currently being contemplated. Building and operating an electricity system based on solar, wind and flexible generation technologies will create more jobs than any of the alternatives, drive a fantastic new mobility revolution, position the country for innovative new exports and give us a best-in-class reputation in the energy field.