Page 5 - AfrElec Week 05 2023

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec

emitter of greenhouse gases. To meet its 2030 centralised, and Eskom has a monopoly on elec-
targets, the country will need to find a way to tricity generation and distribution. As a result,
wean itself off coal — no easy feat, given the eco- the utility has little incentive to improve its oper-
nomic and political pressures it faces. For start- ational efficiency or invest in new renewables
ers, South Africa’s power sector is in dire need of technologies.
investment.
Eskom, which is struggling under the weight Signs of change
of $24bn in debt, is in the middle of reviving a Ultimately, despite years of talk about a ‘coal
decade-old turnaround program to diversify the transition,’ the South African government has
country’s energy mix. But it is facing an uphill been slow to act, in part because of the political
battle. The utility has been plagued by years of and economic clout of the country’s powerful
mismanagement, corruption, sabotage, and mining companies. But there are signs that this
technical problems. Aside from Medupi and may be changing.
Kusile, its power plants are old and inefficient, This November, at the COP27 climate
and its transmission and distribution networks conference, South Africa signed a landmark
are in urgent need of upgrading. energy transition deal with France, Germany,
Unsurprisingly, the combination of supply the United Kingdom, the United States, The JETP is a sign
constraints, mismanagement, and ageing facili- and the European Union. The $8.5bn Just
ties have made it basically impossible for Eskom Energy Transition Plan (JETP) — the larg- that South Africa
to reliably meet South Africa’s energy demands. est of its kind in Africa — will support the is beginning to
In recent years, the utility has been forced to country’s efforts to decarbonise its economy
implement regular ‘load shedding’, a practice of and move away from coal. The deal includes take its climate
purposefully cutting power to certain areas to funding for renewable energy projects, as
avoid a complete grid collapse. well as investments in grid modernization, commitments
In addition to causing a widespread loss electric-vehicle adoption, and power plant
of confidence in the government’s ability to decommissioning. seriously.
manage the country’s energy sector, daily The JETP is a sign that South Africa is begin-
load shedding has had a devastating effect on ning to take its climate commitments seriously.
the economy, stifling growth and driving up But it will take more than a single agreement to
unemployment. In an October report, Eskom wean the country off coal. Eskom’s problems
acknowledged that the country’s power sector are deep-rooted and will take years to fix. In the
remains in a precarious state, warning custom- meantime, load shedding is likely to continue,
ers that load shedding will likely continue until putting even more strain on an already strug-
2027. gling economy. Unless the government takes
Eskom’s problems are compounded by the decisive action to reform the country’s power
fact that it is the only game in town — there is sector, South Africa will continue to struggle
no other utility in South Africa that can pick up to meet its energy needs — let alone its climate
the slack. The country’s power sector is heavily commitments.™

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