Tag: Eskom

Electricity Policy Is Economic Policy: The Race For Reliable Power

Electricity policy, at its core is economic policy.

Governments around the world have demonstrated that throwing money at electricity projects such as weather dependent wind turbines and solar panels, does not guarantee success.

From The CO2 Coalition

By Ronald Stein*, Olivia Vaughan, and Steve Curtis

Electricity policy, at its core is economic policy. Nations that can produce abundant, reliable, and affordable electricity create the conditions for industrial growth, technological leadership, higher wages, and rising living standards. Those that fail to do so eventually discover that electricity shortages are a direct threat to national prosperity.

The world is at a pivotal moment. The rapid growth of artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, electrification, and data centers will require vast quantities of dependable electricity. Meeting demand requires more than slogans, subsidies, or politically fashionable technologies based on ideological movements. It requires a serious commitment to baseload power and laser sharp focus on nuclear generated electricity, including the development of advanced spent fuel solutions.

The challenge is not simply one of funding. Governments around the world have demonstrated that throwing money at electricity projects such as weather dependent wind turbines and solar panels, does not guarantee success. Two people cleaning a small shed instead of one may increase the time of success by twofold, but placing fifty people in the same small area will make the task nearly impossible. What needs to be done is the immediate creation of conditions where public policy and private-sector execution work together to deliver measurable outcomes.

Despite America watching the world’s 80 nuclear reactors under construction around the globe,

America has an opportunity to become the global leader in next-generation nuclear generated electricity if policymakers focus on results rather than handouts. While the federal government is definitely moving in the right direction, it should focus its attention on acting as a catalyst, executing on regulatory frameworks timeously, supporting strategic research and development, and partnering with private industry to commercialize advanced reactor technologies, small modular reactors, and spent fuel recycling solutions. Success should be measured not by dollars allocated but by electricity generated, costs reduced, jobs created, and industries built. 

History provides a useful lesson: South Africa once possessed one of the most respected electricity systems in the world. Eskom was established as a state-owned utility focused primarily on reliable power generation and infrastructure delivery. For decades, the organization functioned as a highly capable engineering and project management institution responsible for building the backbone of the country’s electricity network.

One of its biggest achievements in South Africa was the construction of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in the Western Cape. Unit 1 being synchronized to the grid in 1984 and Unit 2 in 1985, the power station has just been granted a 20-year life extension. Koeberg remains the only commercial nuclear power station on the African continent and continues to provide stable, low-emission baseload electricity. It has demonstrated the long-term value of nuclear infrastructure.

Electricity problems later emerged not because the country lacked assets or engineering expertise, but because governance and incentives deteriorated and changed over time. Following South Africa’s political transition in 1994, many critics argue that state-owned enterprises became increasingly influenced by political objectives rather than operational excellence. Inefficiencies accumulated, maintenance was deferred, and accountability weakened. The result was a predictable decline in electricity reliability and the ensuing correlated macro-economic effects.

Losses generated by mismanagement from Eskom were socialized across society, while the benefits often accrued to politically connected insiders. As power stations became less reliable and new generation capacity failed to arrive on schedule, South Africa entered a cycle of rolling blackouts known locally as load shedding. The consequences extended far beyond the electricity sector. Factories reduced production, small businesses struggled to survive and investors, domestic and foreign, became wary of committing capital to a country where electricity supply could not be guaranteed, and as a result, economic growth slowed, and productive activity suffered. Note that this is in addition to the millions of people that still lack access to electricity in the country and who were certainly not prioritized during the process.

Against this backdrop, South Africa pursued weather dependent wind turbines and solar panels procurement initiatives resulting in the Green Economy Accord being signed in November 2011 as part of a broader effort to promote green industries, employment creation, and wind and solar development. The Accord emphasized partnership among government, business, labor, and communities while encouraging investment in renewable energy technologies. The employment creation promises of the accord have failed dismally on their targets, and so has the impact on national grid infrastructure stability.

In tandem, the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) was also launched in 2011 to attract private-sector investment into wind and solar electricity generation through a competitive procurement process. The program was designed to stimulate wind and solar electricity development and bring private capital into the sector, which it has to some extent, but the pudding proof is the highest year of rolling blackouts recorded in 2023.

In 2023, the country experienced the highest level of rolling blackouts, with the South African Reserve Bank estimating the daily economic cost at up to R1 billion. Koeberg’s Unit 1 was out for maintenance at the time and frustratingly added a stage to every planned power outage (which refers to the frequency of how long you have to go without power – which in 2023, was up to 12 hours per day). None of the solar farms, nor the wind assets could assist in solving this problem.

This is a clear lesson that a nation cannot subsidize its way out its poor electricity policy. Reliable electricity is not optional infrastructure, it is the foundation upon which modern economies operate and citizens of the economy are able to access and sell goods and services essential to modern life.

There are debates about the effectiveness and limitations of wind and solar generated electricity dependent on favorable weather conditions in addressing South Africa’s long-term electricity challenges. What is beyond dispute, however, is that intermittent generation alone cannot fully replace dependable baseload power in a modern industrial economy. Manufacturing plants, hospitals, mines, transportation systems, data centers, and AI infrastructure require electricity every hour of every day, regardless of weather conditions.

The reality of the limitations of wind and solar generated electricity has profound implications for the United States and the World. America’s future competitiveness will increasingly depend on an abundance of electricity. Artificial intelligence systems, semiconductor fabrication facilities, advanced manufacturing plants, and reshored supply chains will require unprecedented amounts of reliable electricity. Meeting those demands with intermittent resources alone will be difficult and increasingly expensive. As experienced in South Africa, Germany and even California. South Africa’s electricity prices have risen over 900% over the last two decades, a case study that should not be ignored when considering national sovereignty. South Africa and America have deep ties in both electricity and industrialization, with Anglo American, Hendrik Vanderbijl and various other endeavors, including Koeberg and the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor project, alongside countries like the US, France and Germany at the time. When the base factors of production (mining, mineral processing, energy) are outsourced to other countries, the result is dependency. This needs to be addressed as a matter of policy forth with.

Nuclear generated electricity offers a different path: Advanced reactors, small modular reactors, and next-generation fuel cycle technologies can provide continuous baseload power while reducing emissions and strengthening electricity security. Equally important, innovations in spent fuel management have the potential to transform what many view as a liability into a strategic asset. Rather than treating spent nuclear fuel as a long-term burden, the United States should invest in technologies that can recycle, reprocess, and extract additional energy value from existing fuel inventories. Such efforts would strengthen domestic electricity independence, reduce waste challenges, and create entirely new industrial sectors. There are substantial efforts underway in France and Asia and US interests are well aligned to capitalize on the opportunity when policy makers, States and industry align.

Partnerships are essential: Governments should not attempt to become the operator, designer, and financier of every solution. Instead, it should create an environment where entrepreneurs, engineers, utilities, and investors can compete to deliver results. Public support should be tied to milestones, performance, and measurable outcomes rather than political promises, and politicians willing to champion pragmatic electricity policies will ultimately help unlock a new era of prosperity. Affordable and abundant electricity does more than keep lights on, it attracts investment, increases productivity, supports higher wages, strengthens national security, and expands economic opportunity. Abundant power leads to expanding industry and expanding industry leads to economic growth, which ultimately creates thriving communities.

The United States, despite watching the world’s 80 nuclear reactors under construction around the globe, together with its partners, has the technology, capital markets, engineering expertise, and industrial capacity to lead the world in nuclear innovation. The question is whether policymakers will choose a path defined by partnerships, accountability, and results. If they do, the reward may just be an age of genuine abundance powered by the most important resource of all, reliable electricity.Please share this information with teachers, students, and friends to encourage Energy Literacy conversations at the family dinner table.

Click this Link to Sign up for Energy Literacy from Ronald Stein

Originally published at America Out Loud, August 17, 2026.

Ronald Stein, P.E., is a CO2 Coalition member, engineer, columnist on energy literacy at America Out Loud NEWS, and advisor on energy literacy for the Heartland Institute and CFACT, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations.” He is also the recipient of an unsolicited Tribute to Ronald Stein from Stephen Heins.

South Africa to Break Paris Agreement Promises Because It Cannot Shut Down Coal

South Africa will miss its binding 2030 carbon emissions targets under the Paris climate agreement, three senior government officials confirmed, as the country plans to run eight coal-fired power plants for longer than planned.

Power-station-Mpumalanga

From breitbart.com

By JOHN HAYWARD

Three senior South African government officials told Reuters on Thursday that South Africa will miss its climate change targets under the Paris Agreement because shutting down the country’s eight coal-fired power plants would cause a massive energy crisis.

South Africa’s big miss is no small matter for the climate change movement because, as Reuters pointed out, it is “the world’s 11th biggest greenhouse gas emitter and has one of the world’s highest per capita emissions.”

The original plan called for South Africa to shut down six of its coal-fired power plants by 2030 and two more by 2034. The officials who spoke to Reuters said those goals are now considered “unrealistic,” although the government might set a “new decommissioning target for 2035.”

The South African environmental ministry issued a statement saying it was “too early” to conclude the Paris Agreement targets for 2030 cannot be met.

South Africa is already in the midst of a major energy crisis, even with all those coal plants puffing away. The World Bank announced in mid-October that talks were underway for a billion-dollar loan to help South Africa recover from rolling blackouts that have put a major crimp on economic growth.

The World Bank already loaned South Africa’s state utility company, Eskom, $497 million in 2022 to decommission one of its coal power plants. The plant, an aging facility located near the city of Komati east of Johannesburg, was shuttered last October, but the “transition to cleaner energy” was a disaster.

The South African government did not consult with the 1,600 local workers employed by the Komati plant or help them find new jobs. Energy officials fretted the loss of the plant would jeopardize the power grid, sowing panic, confusion, and vain hopes the Komati plant might reopen.

Eskom estimates that roughly 80 percent of South Africa’s power comes from its coal-fired plants, which are becoming unreliable due to mismanagement and corruption. Instead of “transitioning” to green energy, South Africa is leaning on its coal plants harder than ever as it experiences the worst blackouts in its history.

The South African government has said it would need about $80 billion to finance a proper transition to green energy, a sum that seems very unlikely to be forthcoming.

The United Nations published a report on Wednesday that said governments around the world planned to exceed the Paris Agreement’s limits on fossil fuels by over 110 percent by 2030. Meeting the Paris Agreement limits would require the almost total worldwide shutdown of coal power plants by 2040 – but the heaviest coal users, China and India, are still increasing their coal-fired generator capacity.

Clean Energy Dirty Tricks? A $500 Gift Card for Signing Over Your Property Rights

The clean energy super highway has hit a roadblock.

From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Aussie Clean energy companies attempting to action the Left wing Albanese Government’s green grid expansion, appear to have turned to unsavoury practices to try to progress their agenda.

The clean energy super highway has hit a roadblock. Here’s why

Landline / By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman

When a power giant offered Katherine Myers a $500 gift card, she had no idea she was about to give away unrestricted access to her property for the next four years.

A self-described naturally trusting person, it was only when a relative read the fine print that she realised what privately owned entity AusNet was after.

“My father-in-law went through the agreement and said, ‘No, this is actually providing unfettered access for four years for both surface [and] invasive surveys on the property’,” she says.

…

Myers declined the card but the power imbalance, she says, was clear from the start.

“They told us that we could have that gift card if we signed up to voluntary access but they also told us that if we don’t, that they’ve got Section 93 powers and they’d come on our land anyway,” she says.

…Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-17/clean-energy-super-highway-hits-roadblock-farmers-lock-the-gate/102812602

The gift card was allegedly issued in relation to constructing the Western Renewables Link in the Australian state of Victoria.

In my opinion, power companies or their contractors or whichever party is responsible are out of their minds trying to pull such stunts. They need the cooperation of country folk. Most country folk are law abiding, but if they keep beating on country people through unsavoury practices, threats and legal compulsory property powers, sooner or later some of them will lose faith in the law. We could end up with the same situation as South Africa.

In South Africa, power pylon sabotage and metal theft are a big problem. Power pylons are full of valuable metal.

Eskom finds evidence of sabotage at Lethabo Power Station – pylon supports were cut

Kyle Cowan

  • Eskom has found that supports attached to a pylon that toppled over near Lethabo Power Station on Wednesday, were cut.
  • It is the clearest evidence yet of an orchestrated campaign to sabotage Eskom, however the motive remains unclear.
  • Eskom group chief executive André de Ruyter confirmed on Friday that it pointed to sabotage.

Eskom has, for the first time, found clear evidence that points to sabotage at its Lethabo Power Station, near Vereeniging in the Free State.

The power utility found that supports attached to a small pylon carrying power lines that feed electricity to the power station’s overland coal conveyor, were cut, which caused it to topple over onto a backup power line, rendering both inoperable.

The pylon fell just before 18:00 on Wednesday evening, immediately before evening peak demand hours. Eskom group chief executive André de Ruyter called it a “close shave” on Thursday.

…Read more: https://www.news24.com/news24/investigations/eskomfiles/breaking-eskom-finds-evidence-of-sabotage-at-lethabo-power-station-pylon-supports-were-cut-20211119

The African thieves were clever. They didn’t cut the power lines, which would have been immediately detected, they stole valuable stainless steel pylon supports – but left enough so the pylons didn’t immediately fall. When the thieves left, the power lines were still operating, which allowed the theft to go undetected until mechanical failure caused by the missing structural support members brought down the power line.

I’m not in any way advocating law breaking or sabotage, WUWT does not condone law breaking. My point is power companies need the cooperation of country folk. Thousands of miles of power line infrastructure cannot be affordably patrolled by power companies. Power companies need rural land owners to love them so much that every day the land owners themselves run a quick inspection of electricity infrastructure on their land, and willingly cooperate with catching the thieves and saboteurs.

Legalised land seizures and unsavoury practices like this gift card are not the path to win love and compliance.