ENERGY minister dismissed the notion that renewable electricity can bring an end to years of rolling blackouts, pointing to Europe’s pivot back to the use of fossil fuels as evidence of the constraints of using green energy.
Solar and wind plants could be used to supplement coal, gas and nuclear power generation, but had limitations when it came to meeting South Africa’s needs, such as supplying mines, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said.
“The excitement of moving from coal to renewables is becoming a myth,” Mantashe, a former miner and labour-union leader, said in an August 30 interview in his office in Pretoria, the capital. “Many think that renewables are the so-called saviour, and we know that it is not. Germany has learnt that painfully.”
South Africa relies on coal to generate more than 80% of its electricity, and has been subjected to intermittent outages since 2008 because State utility Eskom can’t meet demand from its old and poorly maintained plants. While the government has pledged to
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