The Lights Are Still One But for How Long?

I think it is now common knowledge that southern Africa is approaching a power crisis, and that, despite stern warnings from many experts in the last eight years, all governments in the region have been sitting on cold eggs in all those years.

.. The problem with power plants is that you don’t build them overnight. It takes four to five years to complete one power station, and it takes investments of billions to get the thing to the stage where it can be commissioned. Take for instance the as yet, commercially unproven technology of the pebble bed reactor. By all indications, this type of nuclear power plant is much safer than conventional nuclear reactors, and over the long run, also cheaper. But to build one will take five to six years, and to eventually prove its feasibility, will take another five years. By that time, the entire region is in an annual peak time deficit of around 15000 mW. Business and industry will come to a standstill.

AllAfrica