{"id":840803,"date":"2025-10-25T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=840803"},"modified":"2025-10-24T16:50:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:50:54","slug":"r250-billion-down-the-drain-every-year-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/840803\/r250-billion-down-the-drain-every-year-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"R250 billion down the drain every year in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa is wasting around R250 billion a year on electricity because of outdated planning and an overreliance on expensive, inflexible energy sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to Energy expert Clyde Mallinson, who said<\/a> the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2025\u2019s obsession with gas and nuclear generation will cost South Africa unnecessarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that energy planning is meant to produce a new plan every two years. However, South Africa has had three plans in the last 15 years, and even when plans are released, they are often contradictory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt first, the plan is described as a living document, open to frequent change. Then it\u2019s gazetted as policy, and suddenly it\u2019s a straitjacket rather than a strategic guideline,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are definitely conflicting ideas about whether this plan should guide us or bind us.\u201d Mallinson pointed out that the pace of change in energy technology makes these long-term plans almost obsolete as soon as they are published. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery plan they bring out is immediately out of date because things are moving so fast,\u201d he said. He criticised the new Integrated Resource Plan for its focus on nuclear and gas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s clinging to fossil fuels and the most expensive most inflexible option. He compared future nuclear energy to \u201ca retired rugby prop in a game of sevens,\u201d highlighting how slow and cumbersome it is compared with agile renewable alternatives like solar and wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate the scale of potential savings, Mallinson did an analysis about six months ago, putting together an alternative plan that by 2040 would cost the country R250 billion per year less than the plan that\u2019s just been gazetted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that battery storage costs have since halved, making flexible, renewable-based systems even cheaper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlanning in the middle of this technological disruption requires taking advantage of the change, not ignoring it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trying to justify expensive infrastructure<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
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Virtual Energy and Power director and energy expert Clyde Mallinson<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

According to Mallinson, a renewable-heavy plan is not just cheaper\u2014it could also lift millions out of energy poverty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt produces so much excess electricity that it can lift 12 million households out of energy poverty,\u201d he said. Currently, Eskom and the government try to limit electricity use because of shortfalls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he argued that in a future of abundant solar and wind generation, we are going to build more than we need, and we are going to adapt our demand to the generation, rather than trying to generate to meet our demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He calls this \u201ca complete flipping of the argument,\u201d adding that overproduction should be seen as an opportunity, not a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Mallinson said that the gas strategy is about finding an anchor tenant to justify expensive infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that imported or local gas will be costly, unnecessary, and likely obsolete by the time the infrastructure is built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He quantifies the impact of following the current plan versus a more efficient, renewable-focused approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe electricity price will be around 60 to 70% more expensive than it would be if we had an alternate plan. In today\u2019s terms, that\u2019s roughly R250 billion per year in wasted money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mallinson is clear about the future South Africa could seize. \u201cThe cleanest electricity is now also the most affordable and the most reliable. There isn\u2019t an energy trilemma anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His vision for South Africa also extends beyond just building new infrastructure. \u201cWe can turn renewable energy into renewable energy dividends for 12 million households, taking people off social grants and giving them a stake in the energy future.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom day one, they could be cash flow positive, and eventually earn a pension bigger than a SASA grant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa is wasting around R250 billion a year on electricity because of outdated planning and an overreliance on expensive, inflexible energy sources.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":829872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[23895,23894,853],"class_list":["post-840803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-electricity-minister","tag-integrated-resource-plan","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840803"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840812,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840803\/revisions\/840812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}