Energy crisis is solvable!

[Dave A]

I'm so pleased. Minister Alec Erwin says South Africa's energy crisis is solvable.

It will take an investment of at least R1-trillion to prevent South Africa from becoming an energy-scarce country, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said.

The wholesale price of energy was expected to double in the next two to three years, meaning that consumers could expect to pay more, the Cape Times reported on Wednesday.

"The price of energy is inescapably rising and it won't come down," he told a Cape Times/Safmarine business breakfast on Tuesday.

Erwin made a call for greater energy-saving initiatives.

"There is no quick fix, but we can alleviate the problem with energy efficiency."

He acknowledged that the recent supply problems and blackouts had become familiar challenges in South Africa. However, he said the energy crisis was a global problem. Many countries were struggling to attract investment for renewable energy and there was a global shortage of equipment for energy generation.

Erwin admitted that the government had not taken into account the costs and problems of not having an excess capacity of power.
full story from M&G here Note: Comment 2 on the story at M&G is worth the read.

This really good news, just as long as we don't have a money shortage for the investment needed

[murdock]

something which still amazes me is how we never had to pay for electrical connection to our properties before the boundry...now you have to pay for the cable from the point of supply...ie if the cable is fed from a pole 2 km away you pay for it to be installed from the pole 2 km away and you pay a connection fee...if the transformer which feeds your property needs to be upgraded you pay the entire cost...and now there are also electricity tarrif hikes and the electrical system is not maintained any more hence the system starting to fail...there havent been new power stations for years...why suddenly all the costs.

if the old goverment was generating electricity for the minority and could still cover all the costs involved in generating...supplying and maintaining the system where is all the money going now with the majority being supplied electricity.

[Dave A]

Yeah. It's not just more energy efficiency we need. This story about Raymond Parsons calling for focus on delivery brings the point home, too.

South Africa must not take future growth performance for granted, Raymond Parsons of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) said on Wednesday.

He was addressing the first session of the South African Economics Seminar in Johannesburg on the theme "The Economic and Business Environment in SA".

Parsons cautioned that although the South African economy was in many ways bigger, stronger and better than in 1994, "the economy is not on 'cruise control' or 'automatic pilot' - and future growth performance must not be taken for granted".

He added that central to raising the rate of growth in South Africa and achieving a fairer society had much to do with strengthening state capacity where it mattered, or otherwise devising new and innovative mechanisms to ensure effective delivery.

Policies did matter, but so did the institutions and mechanisms through which they were approved and implemented, he said.

A strong delivery culture needed to be developed and embedded in South Africa's public sector if the goals of AsgiSA were to be achieved.

Turning to the role of business, Parsons said that with a watershed general election pending in 2009, business should accept that the economic and political future of the country was too important to be left only to the politicians.

"Business should in a structured way develop its own vision of the future, drawing on experience to date and on research already done on preferred economic options."

Business needed to help South Africa respond constructively to the socio-economic challenges of the next few years, Parsons said.
full story from Business Report here

I tend to agree with what he says, except I'm not so sure about overly encouraging "new and innovative" solutions. We've already seen a fair chunk of "innovative" solutions, mostly involved in squandering funds and resources. A solid return to some kick-ass fundamental productivity basics needs to be got back in place.

You crawl before you walk. You walk before you run. This short cut approach...?