Janine Myburgh’s opinion piece (Cheaper renewable energy in US shows up Eskom’s nuclear folly, March 8) refers. When I throw a switch to put on a light, I expect the light to come on, any time of day or night. That kind of power, which is always available, engineers call "dispatchable" power. This is the kind of power you and I need, that industry and the country need. Gas, oil, coal and nuclear inherently make that kind of power. Solar and wind do not inherently make dispatchable power, but dispatchable solar and wind can be made by adding either storage (batteries, pumped hydro, thermal storage) or a stand-by backup fossil fuel generator (or both). But these supplements add considerably to the cost of generation. Now, if we wish to compare costs of electricity generation (levelised cost of electricity) we need to compare apples with apples — the costs of dispatchable power by whatever technology. To do otherwise is misleading. If we do this honestly and fairly, solar and wind powe...
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