The proposal by Tobias Bischof-Niemz and Johan van den Berg for the progressive, conditional sale of Eskom’s coal-fired stations and their presumed replacement through the private sector by allegedly cheaper solar and wind-powered facilities, neglects two issues: • Renewables operate only for about 40% of the time and require a stable back-up power source. At present Eskom funds the capital cost of stable back-up. If this is transferred to the installation cost of renewables they become hopelessly uneconomic. • The sale of existing power stations at a fixed rate of return on the outlay, including the unpredictable future costs of coal and rehabilitation, is hardly a bankable proposition. Bernard van RooyenVia e-mail
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