Cost of renewables threatens new embarrassment for Eskom

As Eskom’s problems mount, there is growing concern about the increasingly serious cost implications of connecting renewable energy (RE) power plants to the grid. Connecting projects which are widely geographically dispersed to the grid poses a sizeable challenge. It is starting to become clear that Eskom did not adequately account for the grid needs of RE projects in its transmission plans, and that the cost of evacuating power from RE schemes has not so far been factored into the bid process, particularly given that, in South Africa, the arreas with the highest solar isolation have the weakest grids.