South Africa experienced unprecedented electricity shortages in 2023 as ageing coal plants became increasingly prone to breakdowns. The country urgently needs to develop new electricity generation facilities and reduce reliance on coal power.
In the first week of 2024, the South African energy minister, Gwede Mantashe, released a proposed roadmap for the future of electricity in South Africa. Unfortunately, the draft Integrated Resource Plan is a major disappointment. Described by some analysts as “shoddy”, the plan contains, among many flaws, huge errors in costing the different future energy scenarios.
Firstly, the plan’s costing estimates aren’t credible. It does not even consider the most inexpensive combination of new, additional electricity – largely wind and photovoltaic solar, with some battery storage. Instead, the plan claims wrongly that gas-intensive scenarios are cheaper.
