As prices for renewable energy are falling, the environmental and cost tide is turning against coal and nuclear
Crises make strange bedfellows. A national trauma such as war and climate disaster can create the moral and intellectual clarity that is difficult to achieve in the mess of daily life. In these moments we may find ourselves on the same side of issues as people we consider to be wrong, bad, even evil.
The stakes are high because our electricity involves major infrastructure investments in the order of hundreds of billions of rand, as well as natural resource consumption, land use and major environmental effects. Electricity is a key component for wellbeing and wealth, and it is at the centre of pre-election politics.
● Human-driven climate change is real and is caused primarily by the consumption of fossil fuels. Coal-based electricity systems are a major driver of climate change. ● Jobs are being shed in the coal sector because of the changing economics of coal mining, inclusive of mechanisation and automation. Private banks have pulled out of coal IPPs planned in the latest version of the IRP, not seeing a viable future for this infrastructure.
Electricity should be seen as a tool to achieve primary development goals. Poverty, inequality and unemployment can be addressed in their many manifestations through the development and implementation of progressive electricity policy. This is impossible without a shared frame of reference, a shared evidence base that is more robust than individual whims and politicking.
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