Electricity minister attacks climate finance pact

Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has attacked South Africa’s groundbreaking US$8.5-billion climate finance pact with some of the world’s richest nations whereby it will close some coal-fired power plants and repurpose them to produce renewable energy.

Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told a meeting organised by Standard Bank that the closure of Eskom’s Komati power station, the first plant to be shut, was “an injustice that is unfolding at Komati in the name of the transition”.

Ramokgopa’s observations, while chiming with earlier comments made by energy minister Gwede Mantashe and the concerns of labour unions, may further inflame tensions around the so-called “just energy transition programme”, which is behind schedule. South Africa is yet to produce an implementation plan that would allow money to flow from France, Germany, the US, the UK and the EU.

“If I had my way we would go and restart the units at Komati,” he said. “We closed a power station which was the best performing power station at the time that we closed it and because someone gave us money and said decarbonise. We are getting 217MW of alternative energy and we removed 1 000MW.”

Ramokgopa repeated comments made previously by Mantashe that South Africa was being used as a “guinea pig” for the green transition. Vietnam, Indonesia and Senegal are pursuing similar JETP agreements.

South Africa is currently suffering its worst-ever power cuts as its ageing coal-fired plants, which supply more than 80% of its energy, regularly break down.

Read: Legal battle over Eskom’s grid connection rules

Ramokgopa’s description of Komati doesn’t match its condition prior to its closure last year. When reporters visited the plant in early 2021, only one of its nine generating units was still operating, meaning it was producing just over 100MW. The town surrounding the plant was run down and there was little evidence of economic activity.  — (c) 2023 Bloomberg LP

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