From the ESI Journal’s July 22 edition: “South African State-owned power utility Eskom has said that it will not sign any power purchase agreements with private power producers once round 4.5 of government’s renewable power programme draws to a close.”

Eskom CEO Brian Molefe is reported as saying: “Sometimes it’s important to confront the facts rather than be passionate about issues. On any given day, I will need about 35 000 MW at 18:00 for peak demand. When that happens, none of the solar panels installed in South Africa today will be available, since the sun will have set.” He added: “I cannot guarantee that there will be enough wind today at 18:00 to take us through the peak. That is a fact that confronts me on a daily basis.”

Molefe noted that the utility was obliged to procure day-time solar power or wind- generated power that it did not need from independent power producers (IPPs). “You can’t talk about competition in power production and then force me to buy from IPPs in 20-year agreements. The whole renewable-energy industry’s competitive edge relies upon them being able to sign 20-year [power purchase agreements] with us. Surely, that cannot be free market economics.”

I am just, as they say, putting it out there. But it is a problem. And many of us in the power business have seen it as a problem for a long time. The emotional appeal of renewable energy is presented to government Ministers who do not know the difference between a kilowatt and a kilovar and who are led gently by the hand to institute a renewable-energy programme whose major business model is to supply power to Eskom at a rate higher than they can sell it. Further, there is no guarantee whatsoever that the power supplied can be relied on. This forces Eskom to have a backup to the renewable-energy system that is not cost effective and is generally an all-round loss leader.

I am not against renewable energy. I think wind power is just stupid, but, if you have no other source of power, it may well be the answer. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed woman is queen. I think we all know that the sun does not shine at night; so photovoltaic power is not a 100% solution.

However, if you have no other source of power, it is worthwhile. This is the major problem with African countries; we completely failed to attack the real problem – 80% of the people on the continent have no access to electricity at all. We have to start at the bottom. The first stepping stone is to get people to have some access to electricity. And the first stone in the stepping stones is to give them access to light at night that is not based on a candle or a paraffin lamp.

I have, over the last five years, entirely at my own cost, financed an investigation into what lamps could replace candles or a paraffin lamp. I have found that the latest glass jar lamp produced by Consol is up to the job; previous jar lamps have rusted, the batteries have failed, electronics stopped working.

Now we have the answer. But if I try to discuss the matter with any of the Southern African utilities, their eyes glaze over. No, they say, we are trying to give them electricity, man. Electricity with a power line. This may well be the case, but I can promise you that the cost of taking electricity 50 km into the bush will never be repaid by the pitiful revenue earned, as the people do not have the money. But how about this? Give them free jar lamps. This will free up the money that they currently spend on paraffin (generally about R30 a month). Then, if you run a very simple single wire earth return system to a village, after a while, you will receive revenue that will allow you to do it to another village. And another village and another. It can work – it just has to be tried. I appeal to anybody in authority out there: let us give this a try.