As reported in Engineering News last week, Eskom has been talking of a R150 billion, five-year investment plan to increase generating and transmission capacity in South Africa. But now Portia Molefe, the director-general of the department of public enterprises, is hinting at a possible R1 trillion energy spend over 25 years, according to yesterday's Business Report. By my calculation, that's more than R40,000 for every household in the country, and most of it will go towards big projects feeding an expanded national grid, with possibly 30 percent of South Africa's power being nuclear by 2030.
Surely with that much money, alternative approaches could be within the country's grasp? So far, the department of minerals and energy has subsidised only two renewable energy projects to the tune of R3 million.
What intrigues me about the warnings issued by Eskom's CEO Jacob Maroga regarding the tight timelines for getting new power online, is that he is putting the blame on the Environmental Impact Assessment process. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but if the EIA approvals are slow in coming, that could be a hint that Eskom is on the wrong path. If it's proving difficult to secure land for new transmission lines, maybe they should consider local generation combined with demand management strategies. Eskom has barely dipped its corporate toe in that water.
But instead of trying a little creativity, Eskom throws up its hands and says foreigners shouldn't buy land in Lephalale, where some of the transmission lines are planned, because their game farms are blocking the way. Foreigners? Can that be right? Apparently it can - according to the Engineering News report, a panel has been set up "specifically to investigate the appropriate policy response to the increasing tendency for foreigners to buy land in South Africa." Yes, believe it:
The panel's report is currently out for public comment and includes the following recommendations: the compulsory disclosure of nationality, race and gender; a possible temporary moratorium on the sale of State land to foreigners; a possible prohibition on foreign ownership in certain classified areas; the harmonisation of laws affecting land-use planning and zoning; the establishment of an interdepartmental oversight committee to monitor foreign land-ownership trends; and measures to deal with fronting.
So next year when we hit peak power demand in South Africa, and the lights start flickering, get ready for the march of the xenophobic brigade.
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