Is South Africa heading to a gas-powered future?
The ambitious Integrated Resource Plan may struggle to convince investors and overcome vested interests. The reality could include a far greater dependence on gas than envisaged
The South African energy sector is in desperate need of investment and reform—with state power utility Eskom as its emblematic, dysfunctional centerpiece—while potentially transformative discoveries await development. South Africa has a near-complete set of natural resources to exploit, from coal— which it already amply does—to recent vast discoveries of offshore gas and liquids, largely untapped solar and wind potential and possibly even unconventional hydrocarbon resource in its vast Karoo semi-desert. The first IRP update in more than a decade contains plans for coal, gas and renewables, and even a new generation of modular nuclear power plants. South Africa is more than 70pc reliant on c
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