That should be in the past tense, Butch. And it wasn't "almost." You build coal power stations next to the coal which is going to feed them - period. It's far more cost efficient to run electricity down a power line than to move the equivalent energy in coal over the same distance. It's that convenient local coal supply that determines the life span of the station.
A new contender for understatement of the year.
It didn't go wrong - the consequences were entirely predictable (and was probably pointed out by some sage engineer and ignored before the decision was made). May I hasten to add that the failure was not because the contractors were "black" but because the method is so ridiculously suboptimal.
Final nail on the coal supply issue - what Eskom is paying is not based on cost-to-extract-and-deliver-plus-profit-margin (as it used to be), it's based on the international coal spot price plus delivery which is significantly higher.
The whole thing shows what happens when pie-in-the-sky political agendas are put ahead of economic realities. Government should be in the dock right alongside Eskom in this public consultation process they're going through at the moment.
Well, here comes the bill for all this folly...
There is no free lunch.
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