NEWS ANALYSIS: SA is dragging its feet on energy transition
The move towards renewables and a low carbon economy needs a coherent plan and some serious thought
As the world moves away from coal and towards green power technologies, SA finds itself in distinct danger of failing to realise a just energy transition. Renewable energy provided 70% of all new net energy globally in 2017 and total investment in green power now tallies more than $300bn. There are 179 countries with renewable power targets and 57 of those have committed to their power mix becoming 100% renewable. “This is not just because of climate change or the environment. It’s mainly driven now by the fact that renewables is just a damn good business deal,” said Mark Swilling, a professor at Stellenbosch University’s centre for complex systems in transition. He was speaking at an energy dialogue co-hosted by Nedbank and EE Publishers this week. Inevitable as the transition to a low carbon economy might be, SA is woefully unprepared to grab the opportunities presented by the green power revolution. Mike Levington, MD of Kabi Energy, says there is a lot of confusion rather tha...
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