Eskom’s Matshela Koko blows hot and cold on REIPPP Programme
Servicing debt and paying for the building of new coal power stations, transmission and coal supply costs are behind electricity price hikes, writes Penny-Jane Cooke
In the past two weeks Matshela Koko has been particularly vocal in the media pushing the pro-nuclear agenda, while at the same time undermining the crucial role that renewable energy is playing in the South African energy sector. In his most recent opinion piece in Business Day, Koko distorts facts, provides statistics out of context and changes his tune about the benefits of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP), all in an attempt to convince the South African public that nuclear energy is the most rational choice for SA. In his opinion piece on October 19, Koko incorrectly and misleadingly presents the status of SA’s electricity plan as the following: "The approved Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) makes provision for an additional 9,600MW of nuclear energy by 2030". In reality, the IRP was published in 2011, and is heavily contested because it has not been revised (and approved by the Cabinet) since. So, while the original plan may well have included a r...
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