POWER GENERATION
Structure of the market needs to be revised to ensure least-cost energy
Rational arguments against nuclear do not always triumph, but an independent grid would unleash market forces, writes Anton Eberhard
The battle for SA’s nuclear and energy future is not over. While many South Africans welcomed the decision by the High Court in Cape Town setting aside international nuclear energy treaties and declaring the government’s nuclear procurement programme unlawful and unconstitutional, President Jacob Zuma and his allies have not given up. Ultimately, the structure of SA’s power market will need to change to ensure an optimal and least-cost energy mix. Reforming the power sector will be the more important struggle. Unfortunately, the court’s nuclear decisions were essentially around procedural issues and it declined to rule on substantive matters, such as the rationality of procuring nuclear power when the government’s own updated electricity plan says it is not needed. The court ruled that the government was dilatory in tabling the earlier US and Korean nuclear agreements in Parliament and using the wrong constitutional provision in submitting the more recent Russian agreement, which sh...
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