In Prof Anton Eberhard’s excellent article on energy planning in Tuesday’s Business Day (Structure of the market needs to be revised to ensure least-cost energy, May 9), there was one sentence that grabbed my attention: "Russia’s Rosatom nuclear contract in Turkey is 12.35 USc/kWh, twice Eskom’s average tariff." That converts to roughly R1.60 per kWh, almost exactly the price the UK will be paying for electricity from the new Hinkley Point nuclear power station. Hinkley Point is being built by a French firm backed by the French government, with the Chinese government supplying a third of the funds. This means the British, French and Chinese governments as well as Rosatom and the Russian government reckon R1.60 a kWh is a fair price for electricity from a new nuclear power station. The new Integrated Resource Plan assumes that electricity from a new nuclear power station can be supplied at 97c a kWh. Given Eskom’s record of overspending on big projects, the 97c story is patently absu...
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