Using electricity more efficiently is the brightest way to solve our power crisis

Cape Times, June 30, 2006

By Leila Mahomed

Energy efficiency measures in the Western Cape will mean power savings of 350MW at a cost of R400 million, say news reports. Compare this with the R2.5 billion cost of building 250MW of power-generation capacity.

This is a very positive development, and those involved are to be congratulated. It has established clearly that energy efficiency is far more economically sound than new power generation.

However, what is worrying is that for 10 years the leaders of the energy industry have known that energy efficiency is the most economically viable option.

Reports collecting dust on the shelves of the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) have demonstrated this. So while the above figures can be seen in a positive light, they also reveal the huge cost to the economy of our lack of attention to energy efficiency.

Consider one example: in 1996 consultants recommended installing efficient lighting in a medium-sized old age home. This was eventually done only last month as a part of the emergency electricity savings drive.

Had they acted in 1996 they would have saved R250 000 by now. Multiply this by savings from millions of private homes and thousands of commercial and industrial facilities, and we have some idea of the massive savings that could have been realised by our economy as a whole.

Yet the industry did not capitalise on the opportunities, in spite of knowing about them.

Perhaps the lack of serious attention to energy efficiency is because, as many have suggested, energy efficiency should not have been left in the hands of those whose core business it is to promote electricity sales, such as utilities and local authorities.

Solar water heating is another form of energy efficiency. With the right sort of financing, large-scale implementation of solar heating would have resulted in huge savings for households and the economy. We have also known about this for 10 years or more. The reports are on the shelves of Minerals and Energy.

The creation of jobs from a local solar water heater industry alone would have justified developing this technology. Is job creation not one of our most critical areas of focus nationally? But, as with energy efficiency, solar water heaters have been given little attention.

There is a strong economic case for both energy efficiency and solar water heaters.

While we may not have capitalised on these opportunities in the past, there is every justification to focus on them wholeheartedly now.

What the country needs is a change of gear. We need more than just "pilot projects".

We need implementation on the scale and with the speed demonstrated in the Western Cape in response to the power crisis. We cannot afford not to.

South Africa is not short of capacity to do so. We have the Department of Minerals and Energy, which has developed several supportive policies and strategies.

We have Eskom, an impressive utility that put its weight behind the world-class National Electrification Programme from 1994 to 1999, and transformed the national electricity supply in the space of a few years.

We have the Central Energy Fund, with all its muscle which enabled it to play a key role in energy security in the past, and its more recent subsidiary, the Energy and Development Corporation.

We have the newly-established National Energy Efficiency Agency and we have the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. And we have many cities which have set targets for energy efficiency and installing solar water heaters.
They will struggle to meet these targets without strong support.

There is no question that the country has the capacity to tackle these issues. Now we need the will to do it. We need the champions. We need organisations and government departments that will apply themselves to large-scale programmes.

The time for report-writing, analyses and assessments is over. We need action.

The Minister of Minerals and Energy, Buyelwa Sonjica, senior government officials, Eskom and other leaders of the South African energy industry must take the necessary action now.