Eskom makes U-turn on renewable energy in South Africa South Africa's energy mix is expected to shift considerably towards renewables over the next two decades. This is according to Eskom chairperson Dr Baldwin Ngubane, presenting the company's financial results for the year ended 31 March. However, Ngubane's statement this week is contrary to what Eskom CEO Brian Molefe recently said, when he criticised renewables as having "failed" the power utility by not providing the necessary power to avoid load-shedding at the right time of day. From January to June 2015, wind power created a net cash benefit of R300 million for Eskom, saving more in expensive diesel fuel than what Eskom had to spend for the wind energy, says Bischof-Niemz. In the same time period, he adds, solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind either delayed, minimised or avoided load-shedding entirely. "Over the full year 2015, solar PV and wind reduced the number of hours with more than 30GW total demand from 1 500 down to 700, hence freeing up much-needed maintenance space for Eskom's fleet during 800 hours out of 8 760 hours in a year." See http://ift.tt/29nQ0KC
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