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DAM-L Comment on Solar thermal power in S. Africa/LS (fwd)

----- Forwarded message from Lori Pottinger -----

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Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 08:31:02 -0800
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: lori@irn.org (Lori Pottinger)
Subject: Comment on Solar thermal power in S. Africa/LS
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[Charset iso-8859-1 unsupported, filtering to ASCII...]
This is a commentary on the article I sent out from the Mail and Guardian
(oct 19) on solar thermal in SA. It is from a renewable energy expert in
the region.

I was in South Africa three weeks ago,  at a meeting on security and
environment.  I have a cynical take on the
article on solar thermal from the Mail and Guardian.

FYI:  Electricity costs about US_ 2-3 in RSA, and there is an over-supply
there (35,000 MW plus)!!  ESKOM has done very little to promote solar power
in the country, and the cheap costs of power have made it very difficult
for the most viable & mature renewables to take off commercially (i.e. SWH
and wind farms).  The Shell PV project is over-publicised, and I'm not sure
its the type of model that should be promoted for the rest of Africa
(Greenwash?).

Finally:  Where is ESKOM putting its resources?  In their presentation,
they focused on DSM (good!) AND their new Pebble Bed Nuclear reactor (100
MW stations), which they (and their consortium of US and UK partners) hope
to sell to other energy-starved African nations.

Although RSA has the technology and industrial muscle to lead a charge for
solar, I am so far disappointed.  Politically, there is hope, but I see
through the sheeps clothing that ESKOM wears.


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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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