At an investment conference in mid-November 2020, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy showcased government’s renewable energy priorities as outlined in South Africa’s updated Integrated Resources Plan (IRP2019). “In line with our commitments to reduce emissions”, Minister Gwede Mantashe told his audience, “the IRP2019 allocated the biggest growth to renewable energy for the period between now and the year 2030.” (Opening Remarks: SA Investment Conference, 17 November 2020)
What is at stake here is not merely the scale and speed of renewable energy growth but the organisation, structure and economic operations of solar, wind and hydropower industries, all intertwined with advances in science and technology. Growing the weight of renewable energy sources in the country’s ‘diverse energy mix’ is not enough for an ecologically sustainable end to energy crises and rolling blackouts. Basing renewable energy on the principles of profit accumulation and market mechanisms, the foundations of ESKOM’s flawed model of carbon intensive electricity generation and distribution, will result in more acute ecological catastrophes. Any green capitalist solution to South Africa’s energy crisis, a non-negotiable principle entrenched in the IRP2019 and other climate change policies, is doomed to failure.
South Africa’s costly, dangerous and dirty energy model is not just plagued with crises and corruption but dilapidated power plants are on the verge of implosion. While Minister Mantashe’s investment conference speech did not try to hide the depth of this crisis, he apparently downplayed it with vague assertions: “As reflected in the IRP2019, we continue to pursue a diversified energy mix that reduces reliance on a single or a few primary energy sources. The extent of decommissioning of the existing coal fleet due to end of design life, could provide space for a completely different energy mix relative to the current mix.”
With 75% of the country’s aging coal fired powerplants retiring in the next 20 years, the state finds itself in a colossal mess as it desperately battles to keep the power on. In the lead up to their decommissioning dates, these aging powerplants break down more often under the pressure to exceed their diminishing operational capacities. Soaring powerplant operating and repair costs, coupled with wasteful investments in Medupi and Khusile devour increasing amounts of limited and mismanaged public finances, swelling ESKOM’s debt burden, currently R460 billion. As the energy crises worsen, government is scrambling for and fiddling with quick fixes like extending the lifespan of the Koeberg nuclear power station and fast-tracking shale-gas extraction (‘fracking’) in the Karoo, an extremely water-stressed and fragile ecology.
ESKOM is notorious for under-reporting the pervasive destruction of the environment and human lives through its dirty energy programme (Fin24, 12 March 2019). Coal, whether low grade or top quality, does not only emit highly toxic gases (carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, etc.) when it is mined and burned, but also consumes enormous volumes of water to generate electricity. Cleaning up the ecological devastation that the coalfired power stations are causing in Mpumalanga and Limpopo receive scant attention in the IRP2019. Yet research studies of environmental nongovernmental organisations report soaring incurable respiratory diseases and deaths among residents who work and live near the coal mines and powerplants.
If everything goes according to the IRP2019, then paltry investments in renewable energy sources should hopefully kick in from 2025 onwards. This includes signing onto the massive continental hydro-power scheme known as the Grand Inga Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Through Independent Power Producers (IPPs), meaning diverse green capitalist projects, 6 422 megawatts of renewable energy might be added to South Africa’s grid. Massive solar farms in Northern Cape and North West provinces, heavily dependent on Old Mutual financing, add mainly to local energy supplies but fall far short of meeting nationwide needs for clean, safe and affordable energy. Not only is the gap between the country’s aging energy supply network and rising demand widening, but the programme to replace decommissioned powerplants with ecologically sustainable alternatives is in tatters.
The IRP pays lip-service to defeating the causes of global warming, pontificating about an energy mix that moves away from coal and fitting coal power stations with costly clean air technologies. Renewable energy programmes promised in this ‘long-term vision for SA’s energy security’ suffer from and reinforces illusions in capitalist environmental policies. In opposition to the IRP green capitalist ideology, the oppressed, impoverished and exploited majority must fight for renewable energy solutions grounded in democratic ecosocialist principles. Radically upscaling investment under workers’ direct control and management in renewable energy sources – wind, solar, hydropower, natural gas, etc. – has never been more urgent as global warming accelerates.
Renewable Energy Solutions Must Protect Planet Earth
Forward To Direct Workers Control And Management Of Renewable Energy