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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country would continue to use fossil-fuelled electricity generating plants as it transits to cleaner forms of power. The second largest industrial nation in Africa, South Africa generates about 80 percent of its electricity through coal. Presently, the country is in the grip of an energy crisis. Using excessive thermal power, the country is also the largest polluter in Africa.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country would continue to use fossil-fuelled electricity generating plants as it transits to cleaner forms of power. The second largest industrial nation in Africa, South Africa generates about 80 percent of its electricity through coal. Presently, the country is in the grip of an energy crisis. Using excessive thermal power, the country is also the largest polluter in Africa.
The power crisis is largely due to ageing power stations, sabotage, and theft of coal and spare parts by organized gangs. Now, South Africa is on the path to switching over to green energy, a movement that has picked up since 2021. Towards this, the country has secured several billions of dollars in international loans and grants.
Addressing his African National Congress (ANC), Ramaphosa stressed that the country should make a choice between coal and renewable energy since there was a perception that the country was trading off between energy security and a low-carbon economy. At the same time, he stressed that the country could not afford to close down thermal plants. Two of the biggest ranked recently built coal-based plants are in South Africa. Incidentally, they are beset with design problems, although they have a life span of 40 years. But, power plants nearing their expiry dates will be retrofitted to produce clean energy.
It may be noted that U.S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen concluded her tour of South Africa recently with a visit to Emalahleni, the coal-mining town which produces most of the coal South Africa relies on to fire its power stations. Emalahleni is home to 12 coal-fired power stations and is among the areas earmarked for the energy transition project which will see many of the power stations phased out over time. Women and young people are being trained in solar and wind technologies, Yellen sought to allay fears that towns like Emalahleni would suffer from the transition as their economies are mostly reliant on coal mining. She said the U.S. was committed to ensuring that existing workers were re-skilled in order to find work opportunities in the renewable energy sector.
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Yellen also met various philanthropists in Johannesburg to attract funding for climate change projects and to visit the Apartheid Museum, which documents the brutality of the segregation system implemented by the white-minority government before the 1994 transition to democracy.
