Snake-oil salesmen are always so shrill in punting their wares. Tobias Bischof-Niemz and Johan van den Berg (How to remove the Eskom albatross from around SA’s neck, January 22) are little better. Both make a living from renewable energy, so their uncritical endorsement of it is perhaps forgivable. But in stressing the positive, they avoided the negative. And the negative is easy to understand. Renewable energy from wind and solar is great — when the wind blows and the sun shines. The power generated is cheap. But when the wind doesn’t blow, there is a problem — as Europe has discovered in recent winters. For as long as two weeks, their huge wind power installations have been essentially idle. The whole system has only been kept working by bringing in expensive back-up. In Germany, power prices have risen to the point where many citizens can no longer afford to heat their homes. Over the past year, on numerous occasions, Germany has had to pay its neighbours to take its surplus rene...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.