South Africa\u2019s energy minister said expecting a rapid transition from its dependence on coal-fired power generation to clean energy would be \u201cvery wrong,\u201d and the nation will need to use fossil fuel for longer to address an electricity shortage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gwede Mantashe\u2019s reiteration of his view that coal will continue to play a vital role in South Africa\u2019s energy mix comes as wealthy nations look for ways to invest in technologies that help decarbonize the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mantashe said clean-energy technologies that rely on intermittent factors like sunshine or wind are less reliable than coal plants that are able to run 24 hours a day.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis belief that you can leave coal and move to renewables: there\u2019s a technical mistake, very wrong, it will never work,\u201d he said in an interview at Bloomberg\u2019s offices in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom Holdings, the state-owned electricity company, is struggling to meet the demand for power mainly because its coal-fired plants are unreliable and keep breaking down, resulting in outages \u2014 known locally as load shedding \u2014 of up to 12 hours a day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government\u2019s focus on improving the energy availability factor at coal-fired plants has helped reduce power cuts and is expected to eventually eliminate them, Mantashe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCoal is going to be around for a long time; for a longer time than many people expect it will be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mantashe, who is also the chairman of South Africa\u2019s ruling African National Congress, conceded that the party has made key mistakes in the energy sector during its 30 years in power \u2014 specifically on delays in building new power plants and the flawed design that was used when they were built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat is one of those mistakes, and we are learning from it,\u201d he said. Eskom\u2019s Medupi and Kusile stations are still being fixed after construction lagged years behind schedule at a bloated cost from original estimates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n