Greenpeace activists dumped three trucks of coal in front of the headquarters of Eskom on Monday to protest what they called its lack of commitment to green energy.
Activists from the global environmental organisation paraded in front of the five tonnes of coal blocking one of the main entrances of Eskom’s Johannesburg headquarters, carrying signs criticising the company for not moving fast enough toward green power sources like wind and solar.
SA relies on coal for about 90% of its electricity.
“To date, Eskom’s investments in renewable energy are limited to tiny projects of 100 megawatts of wind and 100 megawatts of solar. This illustrates Eskom’s lack of commitment to a sustainable future for SA,” said Melita Steele, Greenpeace Africa’s climate and energy campaigner. “South Africans can no longer continue paying the price for Eskom’s addiction to coal,” she added in a statement.
SA has announced plans to scale up renewable energy to nine percent of power generation and cut coal’s share to 65% over the next 20 years.
But Eskom has come in for criticism for charging ahead with construction of two huge new coal-fired power stations, the 4 800MW Kusile plant and the 4 788MW Medupi.
Greenpeace has also lashed out at plans to build 9 600MW of new nuclear capacity in the next two decades.
Eskom is under pressure to boost capacity and rejuvenate an ageing power grid after electricity shortages led to widespread blackouts in 2008.
But coal-dependent SA is also under a microscope from environmental activists as the host of the next major round of UN climate talks, scheduled for 28 November to 9 December in Durban — Sapa
- Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
- Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook