Editor –

One of the achievements of COP27 is slated to be the granting of financial assistance to South Africa to help wean the country off coal and onto renewables. Since South Africa has one of the highest solar radiation surfaces in the world, with a direct normal irradiance of 2 900 KWj/m2a and a good supply of wind, owing to its extensive shores, this is a laudable goal. In 2020 the country had capacity for 37.9 GW coal, 3.4 GW diesel, 3.3 GW hydro, 2.5 GW wind, and 6.4 GW solar (both photovoltaic and concentrated solar power). The energy commissioned was 723 MW coal, 415 MW wind, and 558 MW solar PV.

Why the country’s full renewable energy capacity has not been achieved has nothing to do with money and everything to do with a lack of government will. As an MP in South Africa in 2009, I sponsored a Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (REFT) Bill. Ten days before its implementation, the Energy Minister changed her mind and converted it to a tender process whereby she would hold a tight rein on how much renewable energy would be produced by whom, and where. By that time the certainty and independence promised by the REFIT had drawn scores of investors to South Africa’s shores. Keeping a close watch on the legislation’s implementation, I was myself at a meeting addressed by the director-general of Energy, attended by numerous international energy companies that came ready to invest liberally in renewable energy. These investments would have been privately funded and accountably managed by investors who knew their business and were queuing up to partner with the South African government.

National energy utility Eskom has effectively one shareholder – the South African government. Over the years, government has subsidised Eskom’s inefficient and corrupt coal-fired power initiatives to the tune of trillions of rands. Through five-yearly Integrated Resource Plans, government drip-feeds renewable energy into the system. Had it the will, government could give unfettered access to independent power producers to sponsor their own energy generation from renewables. It could upgrade or privatise the grid, give up its stranglehold on energy supply and allow distributed generation and an independent power pool to fuel the country and beyond with a mix of renewables.

Should the Green Energy Fund go ahead with donating its hard-won dollars to South Africa, one wonders at which level of the centralised system it will inject the funds and how it will hold those who receive them accountable.

Dr Ruth Rabinowitz

Menlo Park, California, US

reurekaz@gmail.com.