Problems with power

It has suddenly become world news that eskom, our national electricity provider is having some problems to power the country. It appears that the loss of knowledge in the country has finally reached a critical point at which the country falls apart. Blackouts plague every city and town and people are furious about the problem. Industries, which are are lifeblood of the economy, are now also closing their doors due to the lack of electricity. There is a very negative sentiment among people living in the country and fears of the country returning to the dark ages (pun intended) are rampant.

Now far from following the same tune, I think that there is something positive about the whole scenario. Our country is almost fully dependent on coal power stations and this is one of the reasons for the problem. Most, if not all of the stations were build under the previous regime. The technology has become old and outdated and skilled engineers who would be able to fix the generators, turbines etc have now left the country. Ironically, the state is still pushing for the same technology for future power stations. Power stations that will cost something in the order of R500 000 000 000 to build. I am wondering if it is wise to spend such a lot of money on something that cannot be maintained. Will it fix anything?

I believe that renewables are the only answer we have. We can quickly build the additional capacity to feed the electricity grid and get the countries economy back on track. I will elaborate on the reasons I think so during the next few days.