Intellidex analyst Peter Attard Montalto says that load shedding in the coming winter months is going to worse than many people are expecting – but hopefully, things will only improve from there.<\/p>\n
Commenting on a week of backlash towards electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s recent comments on pumping billions of rands back into coal, the analyst said that South Africa has a clear way out of the load shedding crisis, if only the “madness” could be set aside.<\/p>\n
In the context of the power crisis, Attard Montalto said that the madness in question is trying to set aside established energy plans and promote spending money the country doesn’t have on assets the National Treasury doesn’t fund.<\/p>\n
In a media briefing following a tour of Eskom’s coal fleet this past month, Ramokgopa floated an ‘option’ he would present to cabinet, promoting investment into the refurbishment of coal power stations, while boosting investing into private coal mines to ensure better coal quality for these stations.<\/p>\n
While this was not presented as an official proposal, Ramokgopa questioned South Africa’s haste in decommissioning its coal power stations and trying to replace them with renewables that could not match the generation taken offline watt for watt.<\/p>\n
Tough choices for South Africa as stage 10 load shedding looms<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n