Your correspondent alleges that "in SA … it is not possible to import electricity when there is a shortage" (Nuclear and coal cheaper and more reliable than renewables, January 25). Has Rob Jeffrey not heard of the Southern African Power Pool, through which SA imports 1,200MW from Cahora Bassa in Mozambique and 120MW from Inga 2 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? The treaty signed by presidents Jacob Zuma and Joseph Kabila binds us to import a further 2,500MW from Inga 3, incrementally rising over the decades by a further 10,000MW as later phases of Grand Inga come online. The writer also seems opposed to SA importing gas energy from the huge discoveries in Mozambique. SA enjoys a major trade surplus in its relations with other Southern African countries, so we have fiscal space to import more electricity when this is less expensive than generating it domestically. Keith GottschalkClaremont

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