LETTER: Cheap coal is still the best bet

You argue in your editorial that Eskom and the ANC need to shift away from a coal-focused electricity regime to renewable energy (“ANC devotion to coal will lead to ruin of the country”, December 9). While it is important to keep in mind advancing technologies and alternative power sources, SA does not have the privilege of giving up on its most abundant and reliable source of power just yet.

During Eskom/Escom’s golden years it was able to keep electricity dirt cheap due to an abundance of inexpensive coal. In combination with structural factors such as incompetent monopoly ownership and political interference, corruption around coal procurement has driven up the price of this coal. But it still remains our cheapest source of power.

SA is not a rich country, and its people aren’t rich. We are now in a power crisis that threatens livelihoods and the survival of our citizens. It is not the time to be looking for frankly unproven renewable energy when we can’t even get the basics right.

Our comparative advantage is coal. Solar and wind are not sufficient or reliable enough yet to provide an alternative. And we can’t rely on hydropower for the entire country. Not to mention the cost of building that many hydroelectric dams in a water-scarce country. Nuclear is a better alternative to coal, but the capital costs to build more nuclear plants are more than we can bear.

The solution is clear. Eskom and the entire electricity industry must be privatised. With free-market competition, natural market forces will determine the best source of electricity. Maybe a company will prove renewables to be viable. But Eskom as a monopoly will never be able to do so.

So long as it holds a monopoly, the best bet is cheap, abundant coal.

Nicholas Woode-Smith, Cape Town

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