Matshela Koko

"We have come a long way since we started with this project. We shall not falter. The people of Gwanda have been good to us, and we owe it to them to succeed"

"although the renewable sector has a vital role in the country’s energy future, it is essential to address concerns surrounding the lack of baseload in renewables — the amount of energy available at a certain time"

"despite solar and wind technology becoming more affordable because of the technological innovation happening in the value chains linked to green energy, it primarily benefits households instead of the energy grid, as Eskom must prioritise supplying power to charge inverters during peak hours"

"Solar is becoming cheaper and must be used for distributed generation. In other words"

"households and commercial entities must use solar, not because it’s going to keep the system stable, but because it’s cheaper now"

"if Eskom’s financial situation improved, it would proceed with its initiative to install 11 synchronous generators across all its power stations as an alternative baseload solution"

"This approach is crucial for ensuring grid stability, as relying solely on wind, solar and batteries might not be sufficient"

"This includes taking all power stations as they are to use the current turbine for the synchronous generation to keep the grid stable. So, the whole story of shutting down everything to build green and solar, it’s a political thing. It’s not an engineering thing"

"the generators could be unaffordable for the utility, which announced a staggering loss of R23.9 billion for the financial year ending in March 2023, caused in part by a significant increase in load-shedding, a growing municipal debt burden and soaring losses attributed to criminal activities"