Power outage in South Africa is because the West is paying us to mine coal, says energy minister

A £6.6 billion climate finance pact will allow some of the world's richest countries to pay South Africa to stop using the power plant's coal Photo: ISTOCKPHOTO

South Africa is experiencing massive power outages because it agreed to become a 'guinea pig' for the West's green policy and shut down its coal-fired power plants, the country's energy minister said.

< p>Kgosientsho Ramokgopa criticized the deal £6.6bn climate finance deal, under which some of the world's richest countries will pay South Africa to produce more renewable energy and shut down coal-fired power plants.

The deal was touted as a template that other countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Senegal could follow in international efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

But Mr. Ramokgopa said at a meeting hosted by Standard Bank, that the closure of the Komati power plant, which was the first to be closed, was an «injustice» unfolding «in the name of the transition».

He said that due to the closure, the state power company Eskom is struggling to ease the blackouts. Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa Photo: SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REUTERS

His comment comes as the country has spent almost a year experiencing severe power outages almost every day due to a shortage of generating capacity and frequent breakdowns of dilapidated power plants. In the worst case, the reduction reached 10 or more hours a day.

The resulting economic damage has put strong political pressure on the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, which has presided over the decline of the once-globally respected energy system.

Party officials fear blame. as the cuts will heavily affect their poll results in what could be the first election that the ANC will lose the absolute majority it has enjoyed since the fall of apartheid.

Mr Ramokgopa, tasked with stopping power outages , said that if he had a choice, he would restart the Komati power plant.

“We have international obligations, but, sorry, we have obligations. to the people of South Africa,” he said.

He added: “We closed a power plant that was the most efficient power plant at the time we closed it, and because someone gave us money and told us to decarbonize , we receive 217 megawatts of alternative energy and removed 1000 megawatts.”

However, when the 62-year-old power plant closed a year ago, only one of the nine operating units was operating at the time, producing 121 megawatts, Escom said. The rest have been closed for years due to old age.

One of South Africa's aging coal mines has caught fire at a power plant near Johannesburg . Photo: KIM LUDBROOK/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

«The shutdown of the power plant will not have a significant impact on the national electricity grid,» the statement said.

< p>Mr Ramokgopa also echoed the comments of Gwede Mantashe, Energy Minister of South Africa, that developed countries are using African economies as «guinea pigs» for the energy transition.

Mr Mantashe said last year: «Developed countries sometimes want to use our individual countries as guinea pigs for experiments. It's painful, I must say, because when that happens, you get surrounded… like a smaller economy, you have to be a conduit for other people's ideas, you can't think, you can't be original.»