This is Fall of Rome type stuff — everything is coming undone
National rolling blackouts have been occurring for days in South Africa and are forecast to continue for another week at least. One engineer warns they are just a step away from a total blackout and says it will be very difficult to reawaken the entire system. Traffic lights are failing, trains are stopping, and mobiles phones, ATMs and fuel pumps may not work. With unemployment at a shocking 35% already, the million dollar losses from blackouts make for a dark feedback loop.
The immediate cause is strikes for wage claims and terrible maintenance leading to major power outages lasting as long as nine hours. But Green targets and activism only makes it worse because there’s no interest in maintaining plants properly which are planned for closure. South Africa runs mostly on old coal plants, and one of the largest plants is closing (supposedly) as soon as September. And the wind and solar power they have often isn’t helping with the peak loads either.
There is vandalism from every direction. At the bottom end, apparently up to half the people in Soweto are not even paying for electricity — maybe because they don’t have jobs — but they jerry-rig connections to bypass the meters, and the illegal tampering causes more problems. The rolling blackouts cause some breakages and explosions as power comes back on. People who are connected may not pay their bills. Thieves are stealing copper wires, and the blackouts only make it easier for them because they don’t have to worry about being electrocuted.
Eskom has also been hit with major corruption scandals. Some during the Zuma era, led to delays in completing new power plants. Then there is the Chinese Belt and Road program too: In 2018 Eskom took a secretive 33b Rand debt from the Chinese Government (worth about $2b USD). There was word of another 25b Rand debt to China too, which apparently won’t be repaid “due to irregularities and corruption” involved in issuing it.
At the top end of town, the globalists are trying to force an expensive fashionable green transition on a country that can’t afford it. South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 – seeks to expand the share of renewables in the energy mix to 25% by 2030. The UK has offered a billion dollar loan for the transition to unreliable power when what South Africa really needs at the moment is dependable cheap energy.
Arnot Coal Power Station in South Africa was built in four years and finished in 1975. (2230MW)
Ominously, Eskom has apparently already lost 6GW of demand in the last year “…because many non-paying customers have been disconnected and several large clients, among them industrial users like mines, are now generating their own power.” So much for the efficiency of mass production eh? It’s every mine for itself, diesel gens to the left, and higher prices to the right… And so much for poor consumers cooking by candlelight.
The first power stations were built in South Africa in the 1920s but now, here we are 100 years later and wondering if South Africa can maintain them?
Eskom is the state power utility which generates over 90% of the country’s electricity which is roughly a 20GW-30GW daily operation. In theory it has 44GW of generation but 2,766 megawatts is offline due to planned maintenance, and another 17,395 megawatts is out due to breakdowns. There are about 6GW of unreliable renewables. Apparently as many as 90% of employees at three power stations had not returned to their posts on Friday, making it difficult to fix anything that is broken. Experts say this will take years to fix. Economists at the Bureau of Economic Research predict the load shedding to continue for at least three years.
It’s all rather sad to see for our South African friends, and a rather sobering message of just how many things have to go right to run a modern civilization. A bit of corruption here, a few bad decisions there, a bit of pressure from foreigners, rinse, repeat and recycle and before you know it, a perfectly good civilization is going to waste.
Just as in Australia the demand for electricity peaks at dinner time and wind and solar are more useful at nearly every other hour. The Integrated plan to add 18GW of wind and 8GW of solar won’t solve anything.
See the original at Eskom | Click to enlarge | Coal is called “thermal” (the black color here).
Why the lights are going out again in South Africa
The Economist
Forget the weather forecast. South Africans these days are more interested in the outlook for rolling blackouts. One of the country’s most-downloaded apps provides alerts and schedules for power outages. Eskom, the state power monopoly, cannot generate enough electricity to meet demand, and is deploying a byzantine system of rotating outages known as “load-shedding”, so as to avoid the collapse of the entire grid. Last year saw the most blackouts in South African history, overtaking 2020; and this year is set to beat the record again. On June 28th, for only the second time, “stage 6” load-shedding was implemented, which would mean several outages over a 24-hour period.
Many businesses have bought generators or solar-power systems; others close during outages. In big cities, there is chaos at rush hour as traffic lights go dark. The blackouts suit copper-cable thieves, who can steal without fear of electrocution. And when the electricity is switched back on, substations sometimes explode, resulting in secondary outages.
Pandemonium:
Corruption is so bad that Eskom claims 50% of customers in Soweto are illegally connected to the grid and paying nothing.
Qithi said Eskom was dealing with an exponentially high number of failed mini-substations and transformers in Soweto.
This was due to the network becoming overloaded due to illegal connections; meter bypasses and tampering; unauthorised operations on the electricity network; vandalism and theft of electrical equipment; purchasing electricity tokens from ghost vendors; and non-payment of electricity, Qithi said.
“In most areas where customers are experiencing prolonged outages relating to failed or exploded electricity infrastructure, this is due to their resistance to the repair or replacement process.”
Qithi said in some instances communities would violently chase Eskom technicians from areas when they attempted to implement the replacement process as part of their operations.
A total System Blackout is possible:
Beyond Stage 8? Expert says SA ‘one step away’ from TOTAL blackout
We wonder how many other countries feel like they are being held to ransom by their national electricity provider? The situation at Eskom remains dire, after the utility plunged SA into Stage 6 load shedding on Tuesday. However, one senior expert now thinks a ‘total blackout’ is coming.
Sampson Mamphweli spoke to eNCA about the matter….
“It’s not looking good. The strike has come at the worst possible time. If you look at our coal fleet, it is not performing how it should. We are moving towards a total blackout. Essentially, Stage 6 is one step away from total blackout.”
“Once we get to that level, it’s going to be very difficult for us to reawaken the entire system we are sitting in a difficult situation as things stand. I feel sorry for the current leadership, because they are grappling with historic negligence.”
The Green international push is on, though workers at the coal plants call talk of a just energy transition is “a big ruse.”
Anxiety and confusion over energy transition
As of September, 2022 Komati power station – one of South Africa’s oldest coal fired-power plants – is due for decommissioning as the first major milestone towards Eskom’s energy transition plans.
Born from agreements at an international level which recognise the urgency of mitigating the drivers of climate change, South Africa has set course to shift to a low-carbon economy.
However, for workers in Komati, talk of a just energy transition is a big ruse. What is actually at play is a neoliberal structural adjustment pacified by rhetoric of a green agenda.
With weeks to go until plant closure at the Komati coal-fired power plant in September, 2022 workers lament that they are yet to be consulted about Eskom’s transitional plans. This has emerged through workshops held with workers by the Institute for Economic Justice in collaboration with the NUM Komati branch.
See also: UK Weighs $1 Billion Guarantee for S. Africa Shift From Coal and South Africa to expand clean energy capacity to meet demand.
An engineering nightmare of rushed emergency temporary repairs
Experts give bleak outlook for load shedding in South Africa: report
Data presented to the paper showed that half of Eskom’s power stations break down again within nine months of being repaired, and some of the worst-performing stations are offline between 50% and 70% of the time.
This deterioration of the fleet was most apparent this past week when Eskom had to implement stage 6 load shedding for the longest time in its history to prevent a total blackout. While the group targets an energy availability factor (EAF) of 74%, it hit a low of 60% this week.
The deficit between supply and demand was between 5,000 and 6,000MW, necessitating the higher load shedding stages.
Energy experts told the Sunday Times that the repair work being done by Eskom is not enough – or even not correct. The group is repairing units to get them back into operation as quickly as possible, instead of addressing long-term problems that lead to their failure, they said.
The power utility is also putting its focus on new energy projects – many of which will not be online for several years. This means that things are unlikely to improve in the near-to-mid term, which will have a significant impact on the economy.
Coal protests in South Africa | by Kgara Kevin Rack
This is life with random electricity:
LATEST ESKOM UPDATE: Load shedding is to occur nationwide through at least July 8 /update 5
Generally, Eskom has stated it anticipates that load shedding should decrease in severity to Stage 2 by the weekend of 9-10 July. However, the schedule is subject to change at short notice, dependent on several factors.
Temporary commercial and communications disruptions are possible while load shedding and unscheduled disruptions are taking place; cellular and mobile services could be affected. Traffic disruptions and longer driving times are possible during these periods due to malfunctioning traffic signals. Trains may also experience delays if outages impact signaling devices or overhead wires. Power outages could also result in the temporary unavailability of essential services such as ATMs and filling stations. There is an increased security threat during power outages. Blackouts could adversely affect security protocols, including alarm systems and electronic fences; opportunistic criminal activity could increase during electricity outages.
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Flag Fredrick Brownall | Map by M.Bitton
This is not new but is worse. In 2014 and 2016 we saw shops with signs saying own generators, so open during a blackout. Many people had little Chinese table lantern ‘candles’ solar cell and little battery. LED replacement for flame candles.
As a student late 1970s winter evenings often involved 2+ hour load shedding blackouts. Always felt timed for evening study period around mid year exams!
We emigrated mid 1990s and non paying of electricity, water supply and sewage treatment were already major problems.
490
Soon, the number of blackouts will decrease, simply because the power will not come back on very often.
Somewhere, someone will report this decrease as an improvement to the situation, and government officials will rest easy considering it a job well done.
440
Anyone here ever spent time in Johannesburg? The air pollution from the burning of coal vehicle fumes is appalling. It’s estimated to take 3-4 years off the life expectancy of the inhabitants. Today is 9.8 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value: https://www.iqair.com/south-africa/gauteng/johannesburg
356
Ever spend any time in Santiago, Chile. Same way. But never seen anything like that in the US, or Australia when I visited some years back.
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I don’t know about ‘never’.
Los Angeles was pretty notorious back in the 1970s for it’s abysmal air quality. Millennials and Gen Z tend to take stuff like air quality for granted, but us old farts remember the bad old days when stuff like that was commonplace in the developed world.
321
Ya, you’re right. Flow in early on morning from Bakersfield and it looked like a blown lake over the LA, but that was a looooong time ago. Thanks for reminding.
141
Now the brown lake has moved down to the pavement/sidewalk.
90
As a small girl I lived in London in about 1950. I remember the smog at that time; it was horrible.
110
It is often forgotten that the pollution of the post-war period was dealt with by legislation and establishment of Environmental Protection Agencies in most or all developed nations, coal fired power stations and gas works were shut down and moved away from cities and suburbs to countryside where lower emission technology power stations were built.
60
They didn’t just move the power stations out of the cities.
The new technology power stations don’t emit smoke. And haven’t for 50 or 60 years.
31
It still was in 1966, when we evacuated for OZ, best thing we ever did.
40
So were blackouts, load shedding in todays world.
In Sydney in 1959/60 we ate dinner by candle light, or a Coleman pressure lantern 2 or 3 times a week.
I had thought we were past those times, & would be apart from the stupidity of the useful idiots.
110
Was in London 1970 and got the last of the Coal Pea Souper Fogs – felt shades of Jack the Ripper – could not see 6ft in front
90
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Hollywood for ten days in the early 1980s and from the dining room on an upper level it was difficult to clearly view the building across the street at night with added pollution.
30
You have to understand that Simon doesn’t deal in facts. If the climate models say that Johannesburg is polluted, then no amount of reality will change Simon’s mind.
10
I spent 45 years of my life in Johannesburg & that situation is completely misrepresented.
472
I spent a week there a few years ago – clear skies and no smell of pollution that I can recall.
221
“I spent a week there a few years ago” Same here, I didn’t notice any air pollution in Joburg at all but noticed a lot of polluting smoke haze out in the countryside where people didn’t have access to electricity and they have to cook and heat with wood fires. We met a dairy farming family out there who told us that they were having trouble keeping going because of blackouts caused by large scale theft of power cabling and the constant theft of their dairy cows. They won’t even be able to feed themselves let alone have access to power if this keeps up.
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Also my observations when visiting.
30
Simon, Air quality in South Africa is above average for industrialized countries. The air population in China is significantly worse than South Africa.
The problem is a lack of population control for coal fired power plants. Odd that the rich country China has appalling air quality.
https://www.iqair.com/world-most-polluted-countries
“World’s most polluted countries & regions
1 Bangladesh 164,689,383
2 Chad 16,425,859
3 Pakistan 220,892,331
4 Tajikistan 9,537,642
5 India 1,380,004,385
…
22 China 1,439,323,774
23 Kazakhstan 18,776,707
24 Iran 83,992,953
25 Kuwait 4,270,563
26 Peru 32,971,845
….
35 Croatia 4,105,268
36 Vietnam 97,338,583
37 Ethiopia 114,963,583
38 Syria 17,500,657
39 South Africa 59,308,690
…
88 Spain 46,754,783
89 Germany 83,783,945
90 USA 331,002,647
91 Denmark 5,792,203
92 Japan 126,476,458”
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To be fair, most of China’s air quality problems arose BEFORE they were a rich country, and they have cleaned it substantially over the past decade or two. 20 years ago, they would have been hovering in the top 5 of that list rather than the top 25. They’ve obviously still got a ways to go, but they are doing a much better job now than they used to.
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The air quality in Cape Town is okay, but Johburg has a problem.
‘This is due to a mixture of dust blown into the city, exhaust fumes from the nearly five million vehicles in Gauteng, fires in homes, and pollution from small industries and power stations.’ (AQI)
71
“It’s estimated to take 3-4 years off the life expectancy of the inhabitants.”
I wonder how much having no electricity or power takes off the life expectancy !
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“from the burning of coal vehicle fumes”
Do you want to re-type that so it makes sense !
230
fumes from the burning of coal and vehicles. [yes that’s ambiguous, but both senses are OK]
22
coal vehicle = EV
241
Steam engines?
lol
20
coal vehicle fumes? I didnt know they had those
there is of course the options to improve the coal infarstructure to Japanese standards but that is off narrative I guess.
61
Don’t you wish you could ask some of the hand-gluing kids if they realize that that’s not carbon dioxide but steam that’s coming out of the cooling towers – you know, the stuff that leftist publications deceptively try to portray as being ‘pollution’ when they publish images of power stations?
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To quote from the link that you provided but presumably did not actually bother to read.
Nothing about coal in there.
If you click through into their live map, you see they mark a number of fires burning.
https://www.iqair.com/air-quality-map/south-africa/gauteng/johannesburg
Classic alarmist bait-and-switch, blame coal power for unrelated things … don’t even pretend you are trying to solve real problems, because you have been called out plenty of times and keep doing it. Besides that, all the coal plants in Australia are heavily particle filtered and generating next to no particulate pollution, so if particles were the real issue then Australia is going just fine.
Then we get the other bait-and-switch between CO2 (completely invisible) and particulates (i.e. smoke), pretending that CO2 regulations are intended to reduce particulates. Just take a deep breath and be honest for a while. You will start feeling better.
191
ah coal (sic) vehicle fumes. So both. So not coal. I lived near a coal fired power station for 8 years DH. Ask me about air quality.
30
What would that be?
20
Some citizens of that fair city may see lower life expectancy as a blessing.
10
South Africa was the industrial giant of Africa up until the mid 1980’s. Industrial & mining output made Australia look somewhat mediocre.
South Africa generated 70% of all electricity on the entire African continent!!
Today the world praises them as the Rainbow Nation. 😂😂. What a sick joke. Unemployment among 24 \ 36 year olds is 56%. The real total unemployment is most likely a similar number. Nobody knows for sure. Nobody actually cares! Least of all the incompetent, corrupt, morons who are good for nothing except lying, theft & deceit. They call themselves “Leaders”.
Cry the Beloved Country!
471
“South Africa was the industrial giant of Africa up until the mid 1980’s”
What happened around the mid 1980s to change this situation?
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The plans to have majority rule & the subsequent hand over of power to a people not qualified or experienced for the job of running an industrial economy!
Reference the rest of Africa & find a successful independent state.Follow the history of of post 1960 Africa. I did & have been an expat South African for 34 years!
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Sanctions.
42
S Africa is a prime example of democracy not always being the best solution !
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It’s always the only solution. The people might be dumb and uneducated and easily swayed now, but the only hope that they will ever have of fixing those problems themselves must be accomplished by themselves. Over time.
So, short term pain for long term gain. Otherwise, if they are merely benevolently “ruled”, they’ll never have a reason to change.
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Not always. Imposing democracy on a people who have never known democracy can in itself be a problem. This is not to excuse South Africa because from the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 opportunity after opportunity for South Africa to follow a different course was wasted by politicians of all stripes. There was such a lack of foresight and the recognition that a rapidly urbanising unsophisticated and uneducated population (there were white and black) needed to be accommodated.
51
Yeah, look at Gaza for example.
03
Exactly right. If you want to know what happens when democracy is lost, South Africans need look no further than Zimbabwe. The problem in Africa is that the people do not have a tradition of democracy, but have a tradition of “chiefdoms” so the enrichment of the elite is seen as a thing the chief has the right to do. In a way, corruption is seen as the prerogative of the chief, and as such is accepted.
70
Wrong !
If that were true, we should alllow every group that wanted , to have independent democratic self rule….
…such as prison facilities, ethnic groups, etc etc.!
No, sometimes a group, or country are better served by having a strong leadership from wiser , experienced sources.
50
When the White government became the Black government the wheels fell off. I cannot think of one Black governed nation that is successful. Why? Well the simple answer is that blacks do not understand democracy but they do understand traditional tribal control. It took us 800 plus years to develop the democracy we take for granted but Black governments have had less than 100 years and most are less than 25 years. New Guinea lurches from disaster to disaster ever since Gough Whitlam cut them loose in 1974. South Africa has been going downhill since Nelson Mandela was elevated from jailed terrorist to the Presidency.
We are being led to disaster by our so called leaders who for whatever reason have failed to see the threat to us and have taken no action to protect us. The West has been under attack for decades and much of that effort has been from our own elected politicians. Elected politicians have sat idly by as education bureaucrats and university vice chancellors have promoted leftist curricula. A series of so called conservative politicians allowed the ABC to run its socialist agenda and contribute to the brainwashing of kids on its channel 22 Kids. It has been largely conservative governments that have instituted “planet saving” policies when they should have been running educational advertisements telling people the facts. It all comes back to education or a lack of it.
381
Dead right! Democracy does not work in Africa, and as I wrote yesterday, the problem was colonials drawing lines on a map in London or Paris and saying “This is the new country”. Chopping tribes up into different countries and jamming different tribes into one country could only ever end in disaster, as it has.
Does anyone here who has live in RSA think Xhosa and Zulu would vote for the same party?
61
If a white population continued to vote for incompetent white politicians who were destroying the country instead of more competent black politicians it would be a sure sign that the voters were racists.
10
Time to call a spade a spade – The end of [SNIP — sorry, spades may offend and in Australia we have no free speech. Section 18C – Jo.] has resulted in the almost total collapse of South Africa. Corruption, mismanagement, self-interest…..you name it. Name a single successful democratic African nation? Does not exist. Blacks cannot run a democracy. They simply lack the expertise, education, morality, decency to make a success of running a country for the benefit of all its citizens.
30
Yes but very poor work practises, safety of factory employees not considered in factories I have been to on guided tours and outside the locked and guarded gates people waiting hoping to be chosen to fill a vacant position, in cold weather standing around metal drums containing wood fires to keep warm.
For example strips of steel guillotined by hand and fed into presses by hand, no occupational health and safety precautions.
30
It will happen here too. We have Labor governments intent on taking us down the green garden path, and we have formerly conservative Liberals which are becoming wetter and greener by the week. Watch out Dominic, Green Kean is after your job.
311
Perrote doesn’t seem to realise he’s in bed with the Turnbull clone Matt Kean.
Kean will be the next “leader” of the NSW Liberal party within a year or so.
211
I think he might know, and it’s quite possible that he wants it that way.
31
In Vicdanistan, we have the Deputy Leader of the Liberal “opposition”, David Southwick, who thinks Comrade Dictator Dan Andrews is not doing enough about “climate change”.
Apart from South Australia, no other state is doing more to destroy their state’s power supply than Andrews is. Now they are trying to eliminate gas connections to new homes plus offer a $2600 incentive for existing homes to disconnect from the gas supply.
The disconnect from reality of both the Liberals (pretend conservative party) and Comrade Dictator Dan is simply staggering.
211
AS a fan of Blackadder I see the Liberals conducting a cunning plan to force Dan to speed up his destruction of the electricity grid. The sooner it collapses the sooner a saner approach is possible. So keep closing those plants Dan and keep building useless windmills we want to see Victoria in total blackout with lots of job losses and lots of cold people. Then and only then will the sheep wake up.
211
I wonder how many Australians today realise that the transition to unreliable energy was based on the Gillard Labor Government Renewable Energy Target with incentive subsidies for the profit of investors and based on that Federal creation the Labor States, notably SA, VIC and NSW, rushed to privatise the State public assets of power stations and grid transmission lines.
Incoming Coalition State Governments completed the privatisation but by that time it was too late to stop.
And do most Australians realise that State responsibilities and powers cover development application approvals and processing red and green tape for most things, dams, power stations, wind and solar installations commercial and domestic, etc?
As it suites their purposes State and Federal governments using carefully chosen words deflect blame to one another knowing that most Australians don’t understand and worse, are apathetic.
60
Before I am reminded, the Howard Coalition Government created a renewable energy 2 per cent target on a trial basis as part of their emissions reduction planning after signing the IPCC Kyoto Agreement in 1997, the Howard Govermmet was elected in 1996.
51
Howard made a monumental engineering error when he allowed non-dispatchable generators to connect to the grid.
That’s why politicians should never be allowed to make engineering decisions.
50
Green tech is social engineering.
It is working exceeding well for its’ design function.
I would say 100% at this point.
The Pandemic was the coup de grace.
Brilliant social engineering.
30
Pity the Chines didn’t recolonise SA, hat tip to yesterdays post
217
Don’t worry, petal, they are working on it.
“Chinese South Africans are an ethnic group of Chinese diaspora in South Africa. They and their ancestors immigrated to South Africa beginning during the Dutch colonial era in the Cape Colony. Since 2000 an estimated 350,000 Chinese immigrations, most of whom came from mainland China, have settled in South Africa.”
“The extent of Chinese property ownership in SA is broadly in line with the general foreign property ownership (estimated at 5% of total). However, it is the pace at which Chinese ownership is increasing which differs, as SA emerges as a destination of choice for property buyers from China.”
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South Africa is part of BRICS.
10
They have powerful diplomatic clout, none of them criticised Russia going into Ukraine.
‘BRICS are the major coal consumption player globally. The coal consumption of BRICS countries was 68% coal in 2018 and will be 72% in 2040, while the remaining world coal consumption was 32% in 2018 and will be 28% in 2040.’
(Fossil Energy Demand and Economic Development in BRICS)
21
They are still called Chinese!
10
Another issue with South Africa is regular theft of batteries from cell phone towers rendering many of them inoperative, at least during regular power outages.
But as regard to theft, almost everything is subject to regular theft, including copper wires used to convey electricity as Jo mentioned, and especially from along train tracks meaning the trains mostly don’t work. Then of course, trains are burned as well.
The country is being deconstructed and decivilised and returned to the Stone Age.
Four years ago the South African finance minister, Nhlanhla Nene, said they would print money to make everyone rich. It sounds like something Biden’s handlers or the Australian Government would propose.
https://newspunch.com/south-africa-print-money-rich/
311
Just think what would have happened if Albo had made Bowen the Treasurer. When windmills fail Chris says build more so he would have printed money to help the poor. The man is an idiot.
151
South African coal is of poor quality and contains a lot of siliceous material (rocks and sand). This causes damage of the boiler tubes and other structures increasing maintenance requirements which of course is not happening anyway.
241
Strange that bad quality coal has only emerged since the ANC government started awarding coal supply contracts to their “mates”.
Rocks & other material are mixed in with poor quality coal to increase the tonnage delivered and hence the lovely profits they extract from the failed system.
The ESKOM of 30 years ago produced 70% of all energy on the African continent. Would love to know what those other countries are doing for energy right now.
Do you suppose that South African Airways went bankrupt from dirty fuels.
Do suppose that the South African railways are bankrupt because of bad fuel.
Do you suppose that the National broadcaster, SABC went tits up because of anything else but hopeless management & corruption?
The country is bankrupt!
321
I remember well in the 1970s that our local Caltex distributor was taking 10000 gallons of diesel a day into Liddell power station to aid the burning of coal. An error in the contract had allowed rock to be stripped along with coal. The ash dam filled quickly because rock dust simply does not burn. The problem was corrected fairly quickly.
80
Before its deconstruction, South Africa had a comparable technological base to other Western countries.
I have an example in my collections of a high technology item from South Africa, built in the 1970’s. It is a Barlow-Wadley XCR-30 portable short-wave receiver. It was highly regarded at the time and even favoured by intelligence agencies.
https://www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/xcr30/index.htm
161
David it’s also interesting to look at the 1994 date changeover to the Mandela govt.
A big jump in infant mortality rates for about 10 years, then a steady decline again.
Life expectancy dropped after 1994 and didn’t reach that 1994 level again until 2020. That has taken about 26 years.
But an increase of about 20 million people since 1994 and now about 60.7 million.
Also an increase of about 38 million in population since 1970 or an increase of about 2.7 times.
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/ZAF/south-africa/life-expectancy
60
David,
You haven’t mentioned the nuclear facilities or the 5 or more nuclear weapons the the white government had the brains to dispose of before handing the country over to the current mob.
151
I think the Israelis ended up with them.
21
South Africa, because of the anti-apartheid sanctions, was self sufficient in military hardware. It made the original v-shaped Bushmaster type APCs to combat roadside bombs and mines planted by the ANC. It also made a very effective 150mm artillery piece. South Africa was a power house and then the Blacks took over.
131
Re that
“Weekend Wings #39: South Africa’s “Franken-Mirages”, Part 1 of 3″
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2011/06/weekend-wings-39-south-africas-franken.html
And various other items on that site
And they were managing some pretty high tech agriculture around 1988 still
21
David, I too owned a Barlow Wadly set.
Another thing that Wadley was known for was the Tellurometer, used by surveyers for very accurate distance measurement over long distances. 30 to 50km.
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_759173#:~:text=The%20Tellurometer%20was%20designed%20to,and%2For%20the%20temperatures%20extreme.
20
The communist Nelson Mandela was no angel BTW.
He was offered release from jail where he was incarcerated for crimes he admitted of sabotage, treason, and violent conspiracy, on many occasions on the condition he would renounce terrorism and violence but he refused to do so.
And the ANC’s preferred method of murdering other black people, “necklacing”, much enjoyed by Mandela’s sadistic wife Winnie, was particularly nasty.
271
The murder of about 50,000 people per annum also goes unmentioned. Probably the highest murder rate on the planet. Farmers are a favourite target. Innocent blacks make up the majority of the victims!
250
“coal kills”?
Unbelieveable.
The UN spread the Wuhan Flu by stating officially that it was not deadly and opposing Trump’s attempts to stop millions of Chinese entering the US, something opposed by Pelosi who said he was xenophobic. For 34 years since creation of the Climate Change panel IPCC , the UN has spread the wrong idea that the increase in CO2 since 1870 is due to fossil fuel and this in turn will burn the planet and destroy life on earth. They are supported by the publicity arms of NASA, NOAA, EPA and our own CSIRO and BOM.
Many people now believe it all without any evidence, not even the evidence of their own eyes. Now as they jet off for skiing holidays or beach holidays, where is the rapid sea rise? Why is there even snow?
Where are the warmer nights and winters with our CO2 blanket? Where are the crop failures? And green cover of the planet and food production have has increased steadily, green cover exactly in line with increased CO2, an area the size of Brazil. But no one mentions it. Every part of the natural CO2 increase has been beneficial. Which is not suprising as all life on earth is made entirely from the trace gas CO2. We are carbon lifeforms and carbon, the reason we have carbohydrate and Organic chemistry, is evil.
So where are all these people ‘killed by coal’? Who is telling these lies and why? Cui Bono?
The many massive unelected supranational organizations, the UN, EU, NATO are the greatest enemies of mankind since the Axis powers a century ago. And the group at DAVOS is not far behind.
Not a single organization in the world denies that the increase in CO2 was due to human activity. Why? There is no evidence of this. And it is not true. Then CO2 driven global warming is unproven after 34 years. Global Warming, the little there was, has stopped.
So why are people in South Africa claiming coal kills? Who told them this? And why do some of the wealthiest people in Australia believe it all, starting with Dr. Andrew Forrest and Mike Cannon-Brookes and all their Teal friends?
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I doubt whether the leaders of the anti-energy movement actually believe it or care. Their only interest is massive wealth transfer from the poor and middle classes to the Elites via high electricity and other energy prices.
Fortunately for Elite Leftists, their Slave Army of Useful Idiots does believe it, so it keeps the slaves motivated to maintain the pressure to implement energy starvation policies
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And the myth of electric cars, expensive indulgences so loved by the same group. Far heavier, full of rare earths are a blight on the landscape. And while their owners are virtue signalling, their cars produce more CO2 because most of our power is fossil fuel based.
So electric cars are milking our cheap domestic electricity, avoiding paying the Excise on petrol and demanding subsidies and massively expensive power lines for windmills and solar farms and even special charging stations all to be funded by everybody else with taxes and hidden theft from their electricity prices.
As with diesel, the moment electric cars become significant, there will be a massive surcharge on electricity for charging cars as supplied by these same charging stations. And no one will object because it will be to save the planet from the wealthy. After all, electric car owners are paying none of the costs borne by the car commuters. For now.
In France everyone was told to buy diesel cars. And when everyone had diesel cars, their costs went through the roof and they were fined if they went into cities as the French Teals decided that diesels were much more polluting than traditional petrol cars. Thus the Gilet Jaunes. The same will happen with electric cars. It’s time to stop the insanity of coal kills and stop the windmills and solar panels and transmission lines to nowhere which are devastating the countryside. We are still paying billions in interest for unused and useless giant French desalination plants.
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I was stuck behind a Jaguar EV on the old highway between Maclean and Grafton NSW this morning, the driver ignored the 100 KMH speed zones and varied speed between 60 and 80 KMH which I understand provides the best highway speed conditions range for an EV, too bad about other vehicles and drivers.
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Yes TdeF and coal is so deadly that the Human population has increased by a further 4200 million people since 1970. SARC
Also Africa’s population has increased by over 1,000 million people since 1970 and in 2022 is now 1400+ million.
And in 2022 life exp for the global population has increased to about 73 years and has increased to 63.8 years for Africans.
Why are people so delusional today and why do the MSM, pollies and so called scientists refuse to tell us the truth?
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“why do.. scientists refuse to tell us the truth”
Because they would be fired.
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‘Coal kills’.
If that were true, people would have started dying and the population would have decreased after the Industrial Revolution, not the other way round.
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Hate to sound arrogant but I predicted this in 1993. Not that I’m a great thinker, it was just an easy target.
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In the early 2000s I worked with a guy in Europe who was married to a South African lady. He was quite racist and loudly so, and often proclaimed that SA would go down the toilet. He had many practical examples of decay from his frequent visits back there. It seems his worst predictions have come to pass. It will be interesting if the BRICS connection does them any good or they just get sold out to the CCP (if that hasnt happened already)
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BRICs is about to turn into a global menace. I see Argentina and Iran applied for membership recently.
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This site gives an indication of who will drive BRICS and why Sth Africa has gone the way its gone.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-iq-by-country
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“BRICs is about to turn into a global cooperative group.” …fixed it for you.
BRICS will be the option for all independent countries who are being forced by the Yanks to follow the American Global Order. Most people will be surprised as to which countries will join the trading/political group with over half the world’s population.
I think it was on here where I found a link last year that led to a person who was a student studying Japanese and English, and lived in both countries. He pointed out how the Americans ran Japan to this day, they approved all appointments in politics and education, and if the Japanese Govt wanted to do something they had to apply to the Yanks IN ENGLISH, not even their own language. I expect it is the same in South Korea and Germany, other occupied countries.
The monopoly on world power is about to change, and it will be interesting to see what evolves. Does Australia want to go down with America, or are we going to join the new tigers.
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While the NATO group was meeting in Europe, BRICS gathered in Beijing.
https://www.silkroadbriefing.com/news/2022/06/28/china-has-urged-the-west-to-read-the-new-14th-brics-summit-declaration-carefully-this-is-what-it-says/
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“The World Bank’s President has ‘traditionally’ been selected from American nominees, not always with banking experience, while the US also holds the largest shareholding. It has come under criticism for engaging in US policy rather than an inclusive global decision-making process, the United States and G7 countries hold over 50% of World Bank shares. ”
Probably why the Chinese are so busy loaning out money to the non-aligned.. The World Bank generally ends up crippling a country’s economy and bankrupting it. The South Americans would have plenty to say about it.
From that BRICS declaration above.
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Just another BRIC in the wall…😄
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And the G7 is what these days?
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I saw an interview with a South African recently who was saying there is a silver lining.
The government services are now so bad and so incompetent, that a type of pirate private sector has taken over delivery of services in some areas and the government turns a blind eye to it because it works and they know they cant do it. Things such as mail, believe it or not, and a range of things. And they are run with extreme levels of efficiency due to the focus on results ( you won’t find days allocated for diversity and gay training for example ).
Ironically he actually spoke of the small scale off grid solar and wind as a workable solution for them as they can set them up themselves independent of government and get supply. Of course petrol generators are always associated with off grid.
So its a very interesting outcome born from complete collapse.
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In SA, even the local councils are encouraging people to go off-grid with solar power or generators to cope with energy starvation.
However, noise from generators is causing fights among neighbours.
https://rekord.co.za/201251/infographic-noisy-generators-causing-fights-amid-load-shedding-pta/
In a few years, Australians will have to go off-grid in their own homes as well. So when planning a system make sure a generator is super quiet for night use or maybe just run it during the day, perhaps supplemented by solar panels, to charge your batteries for night use. A diesel generator might be preferable as it can run off vegetable oil if they restrict the availability of fuel, assuming you can even get vegetable oil.
Yes, this is indeed the carefully planned dying days of Western Civilisation.
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During 2018 and 2019 I cared for an inoperable cancer patient friend and while visiting hospitals in Taree NSW, a large public hospital and a private hospital, was told by staff that both often use the diesel generators to avoid power issues in the district, apparently the authorities request the use of the generators.
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Hitting the “Green Energy Wall” is a situation where the electricity system stops functioning, or the price goes through the roof, or both, forcing a drastic alteration or even abandonment of the whole scheme.
South Africa is hitting that wall and Australia is not far behind.
Green ideopology cannot replace physics and the laws of supply and demand
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We have already seen glimpses of this in Australia. On 24/1/19, Melbourne and parts of regional Victoria endured rolling outages because of a combination of factors. Firstly, heatwave conditions which meant everyone wanted their aircons on at the same time. Secondly, there was maintenance issues with 3 coal fired generator units so a major chunk of generation capacity was offline. But it was all blamed on the unreliability of coal and climate change. Quote from the Vic Energy Minister ( Lily D’ Ambrosio)-“We know our summers are getting longer, they’re getting hotter and they’re getting more extreme because of climate change”. Major electricity users like Alcoa and VIVA refinery were ordered to scale down usage. It only lasted for 1 day because a cool change occurred dropping temps from 40˚C to 30˚C. If we get an east coast heat wave affecting the majority of NSW/VIC/Qld in Summer and some of these poorly maintained coal plants go offline we will turn into South Africa very quickly. It’s not a matter of if , it’s a matter of when. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-25/extreme-heat-for-victoria-melbourne-hottest-day-in-a-decade/10748330
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South Africa generates about the same amount of electricity as Australia (244 TWh vs 267 Twh per annum)
Australia would need to spend around AUD$10 Trillion for grid-scale batteries to eliminate coal and natural gas for generating electricity and to rely on weather dependent wind and solar power so beloved by the converts to the religion of “Climate Change”
If Australia cannot afford this how could South Africa?
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Zimbabwe used to import electricity from SA, back in the day.
But now Zimbabwe’s electricity supply is even worse than SA.
From Wiki:
But fortunately they have plenty of animal power:
And wood:
I think something happened on 18th April 1980 that turned Zimbabwe from a functional country like SA used to be, into a basket case.
But they all became trillionaires with the introduction of the 100 trillion dollar note, which was worth US$0.40.
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The Blacks were pleased to get rid of their English, Dutch, Belgium, French and German colonial masters which, as a group, provided many structures to lift the Blacks into the 20th century. Now they will have Chinese masters who will bring nothing but shovels and trucks to turn Africa into a giant Chinese mine and farm. The Blacks do not understand that they have really jumped from a rather cool frying pan into a red hot fire. Meanwhile the rest of the world will sit idly by while China rapes a whole continent.
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Other thing is the Chinese do not create jobs for the locals, they import their own labour force and colonise as part of the deal. Oh and they apply the same “environmental protection rules” they do back in China, i.e. nada/zilch/zip.
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The Hong Kongers celebrated shedding the colonial yoke as well. As per the old Joni Mitchell song , you dont know what you’ve got till its gone.
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So how many times do we have to prove that they’re telling lies about so called deadly coal or fossil fuels.
Here’s the global Human population for the last 200,000 years.
The first 1 billion in 1800.
Then 2 bn by 1927.
Then 3 bn by 1960.
Then 4 bn by 1974.
Then 5 bn by 1987.
Then 6 bn by 1999.
Then 7 bn by 2011.
Then 7.9 bn in 2022 and 8 bn in 2023.
Look up the Microtrends UN data for yourselves and start to WAKE UP.
And then check the increase in life expectancy as well since 1800.
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Neville, you assume that the Left want more people and a better standard of living for non-Elites.
In fact, they want both fewer people and a lower standard of living for regular people.
It’s not about “saving the planet”, that’s just the excuse.
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They just want voters, not interested in anything else,
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What a magnifivent opportunity for the Liberal party to become the “party of the workers”. Announced yesterday that the fuel excise will definately go back in full come September. Apparently the labour party in Victoria will ban new homes being connected to gas ( What very quickly happened to hydrogen being the “gas of the future”)
A political mouthpiece declared that if homes went all electric their total energy bill would be less than gas and electricity combined. No idea how that was calculated. Oh and to really save on energy costs just install solar panels and a wall battery, which apparently will only cost an additional $12,000.00. When we built our first house nearly 60 years ago we puposely went gas and electric because it simply provided back up one against the other
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Here’s Dr Rosling’s 120,000 data points tracing Humans path to HEALTH and WEALTH since 1810.
His BBC video only takes a few minutes and is the fastest way to learn about Human life since the Industrial Revolution and the incredible bountiful journey since we started using Fossil fuels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo
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Don’t forget how Australia refused to allow white South African farmers to come to Australia as refugees even though they were and continue to be the victims of savage violence and racial prejudice.
They could have come here and immediately gone to work, unlike many immigrants who seem specifically chosen for their lack of skills and ability or willingness to work.
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Indeed. Hard to believe since they make such productive citizens and are such a good fit. Fortunately many South Africans have come to Western Australia despite that. Among the census figures S-Africa was the fourth in the list of places outside Australia where Western Australians were born. (Also UK, NZ and India)
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/census
The South African ex-pats here are starting to discuss the idea of returning to Cape Town — they are very disillusioned with the downhill slope Australia is on. They can see where it leads. Apparently there are pockets of functional civilization in SA which may be sustainable (in theory). There is still a passion there for the nation they knew.
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They are like Poms, they need a trip back there to see how bad it’s become.
If they aren’t happy here, best they get back and help fix things there.
30
In the 1980’s they were called the “boat” people. Within 12 months of living here , they owned a yacht.
30
What’s the bet that we’ll see the following headline or something like it within the next 12 months.
COAL POWER FAILS! HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SOUTH AFRICA!
With follow up articles and comments.
… Today, the Australian prime minister called for the complete replacement of coal with renewables by 2030 … “The crisis in South Africa tells us one thing. We must move as quickly as possible to renewable energy before coal fired power fails in Australia too.”
… “Oh the humanity! If only they’d ditched dangerous and unreliable coal power before it failed!”
And so on, and so forth.
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Of that, I have no doubt.
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Here is an excellent 15.5 min video about what China’s been up to in Africa.
If short of time, at least watch the first 1 or 2 mins.
https://youtu.be/aJSD8XV3qzE
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I have lost all respect for the engineering profession, because, at least among the older ones, not young indoctrinated ones, there must be some among them who understand the insanity of our present rapid path to massive energy starvation.
Apart from those engineers who post here, the silence from them and their professional organisations is deafening.
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“and their professional organisations”
Yes! As terrifying as seeing the medical profession collapse so weakly. I expect all of them are just Govt lobbyists who just worry about keeping their own bums on a nice warm chair.
There will be no trust left in most professions in a few years.
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The UK has offered a billion dollar load for SA to blow on WnS. They’re also blowing money up in Ukraine.
Interesting country the UK became.
40
And like Australia, the money given away has to be borrowed on the first place.
We and they borrow money to give it away to others.
And even though the money given by Once Great Britain is a loan, it will never be repaid. Guaranteed!
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This is the future our politicians desire.
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Would never happen in the developed world – hang on is South Africa developed, underdeveloped or de-developing?
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South Africa is still classed as an emerging economy.
Rome fell because of greed, corruption, currency debasement and the end of empire expansion through conquest.
I can only assume your belief that it would never happen in the west was tongue-in-cheek. If not, the wake up will be a beeatch…
30
South Africa displays more the features of a submerging economy:).
It’s going down fast!
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Developing seems more appropriate, but with a third of the population unemployed it might appear to be a failed state.
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It was the place where you went for a heart transplant in the 70s because America/Europe couldn’t…
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People Power
‘This week, MTN has announced that it is seeking new partnerships from businesses throughout the country, aiming to use their private generators to help power the company’s mobile network.
“There is no doubt the country is facing a power crisis but at MTN, we want to turn this crisis into an opportunity for small businesses by ‘crowd sourcing’ generators to further support our network,” said MTN South Africa’s CEO Charles Molapisi.’ (Total Telecom)
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Had to laugh. That makes power theft in India look good! (But they’d take 2nd place)
How many in Australia I wonder?
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Bit rich Eskom pointing the finger outwards in regard ro corruption , after all that has gone on in their house over the years. Beggars belief actually.
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Corruption is rife and Beijing is wise keeping South Africa at arms length.
03
Shouldn’t that be the other way around.
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Once again Flinders Island is on 93% diesel.
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Can’t the islanders plug in their electric vehicles to help keep the lights on?
/sarc.
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The Cayman Islands (population 69000) is the world’s six largest offshore financial center. Their electricity supply is 100% diesel generated. But with over $1.7 trillion in assets based there, I guess paying for a tankerload of Rudolf’s best homebrew isn’t an issue.
Cayman residents pay about A$0.22 equivalent per kWh. Hey, that’s similar to Victoria with its cheap lignite! What gives, Energy Australia? Is youse rippin’ me off???
50
Hydro Tasmania who run the Flinders Island weather-harvesting plant refuse to release the financials, no doubt because they know it doesn’t stack up.
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King Island is regularly on 100 diesel.
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A builder’s perspective on the Albo Union Labor Government objective to fast track the transition to renewable energy sources to achieve 83 per cent of electricity by 2030. And by the way they have not stated if they mean Nameplate-Installed Capacity or the Capacity Factor of around one-third of I-NC. Maybe they do not know?
The builder struggling to complete projects for clients because of a major shortage of building materials and trades people would like to know how Albo and Comrades intend to organise earthworks, foundations, erection, electrical works under the circumstances prevailing in Australia, and noting the growing list of building firms declaring bankruptcy because they cannot meet contractural obligations.
The new Capacity Factor should be CPGWWP – Capacity Factor God Willing Weather Permitting.
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“Thieves are stealing copper wires, and the blackouts only make it easier for them because they don’t have to worry about being electrocuted.”
All ok until the power comes back on.
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I was travelling in a company vehicle in Johannesburg SA late 1990s and on the news we heard that a “taxi”, a mini-van taxi designed to carry maybe 8 people including the driver, had been stopped and police found 12 people including the driver who was 15 years of age. The steering wheel had been removed and replaced with vice grips to provide a lever action steering system.
So stealing copper wires is no surprise, the people are very innovative.
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The Govt there had talks with local vehicle manufacturers to replace all those vans with something designed to be a cheap safe taxi… Didn’t get anywhere of course, you don’t get cheap AND safe.
Like any African country, vehicle inspections were not particularly enforced unless you were white, but hopefully the better safety design of post-90s vehicles is making up for that.
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A 2.5 min video about electricity theft in South Africa.
https://youtu.be/avtGWQ_V3YQ
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Do all these protesters claim Coal kills know what coal is? Rotted plants. Like gas, oil, diesel, petrol. All broken down leaves and trees.
So who made it all? Why is it all so old? What sort of world laid down literal oceans of old plant matter? The answer is a world which had lots of CO2, lots of humidity, water and giant dinosaurs for 150 million years. A warm world full of life and Carbon Dioxide, a world in which our warm blooded ability to survive in very cold conditions was not an asset. An incredibly luxuriant green world in which early little early mammals were scurrying about on four legs, an odd warm blooded creature in a world of giant reptiles. Was carbon dioxide deadly? No.
And we inherited the most precious resource imaginable, a small part of the prolific world of dinosaurs, buried coal and oil and gas. And we are burning through it quickly. Even Andrew Forrest’s ridiculous plan to run everything on hydrogen depends totally on fossil fuel.
So why are people lying on the ground claiming coal kills? It is the one gift which continues to lift most of humanity out of poverty. And if it did end the Little Ice Age in 1870, wasn’t that a great thing? But I expect that whatever created the Little Ice Age just reversed. And it will reverse again.
Coal doesn’t kill. But cold does. And we will need the coal to survive, even in warm Australia and South Africa. As predicted by real scientists, the world has already started to cool rapidly and CO2 will go down, with all that implies. So at least we in Victoria are keeping our brown coal in the ground. We will need it.
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“Once we get to that level, it’s going to be very difficult for us to reawaken the entire system we are sitting in a difficult situation as things stand. I feel sorry for the current leadership, because they are grappling with historic negligence.” Sampson Mamphwell
Wise words from South Africa about historic negligence and at just about every level you can think of including the very purpose of generating electricity for people to use for their homes, their employment, their education, their health, their transport, their communication, and, most importantly, to stay warm and survive. We inherited the wonders of electricity from skilful and knowledgeable engineers who have been asked to work miracles with both hands tied behind their backs in recent decades.
When are world leaders outside of China going to wake up to the fact that their plan is failing fast and the consequences in a cold winter will be truly dystopian?
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Their plan isn’t failing.
It’s working precisely as intended.
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The British Government were pretty clear about appeasing Hitler until they weren’t anymore.
The game of chess with China is nowhere near over and it only takes one move to change everything.
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I suggest we sponsor a month long visit to S Africa for ALL australian politicians….
Labs, Libs, Greens, Indies, and Indiginous advocates !……
So they can see and witness the future of Australia unless they get a grip on reality, and make some sensible decisions on the IMPORTANT issues,..rather than drifting into the abys of the stone age !
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Chad, I don’t think they care. The Elites, including politicians, simply don’t care about the energy starvation they are imposing on, we, the people.
And they will simply blame previous governments for not building enough windmills. And that we just have to build tens of thousands more, along with infeasibly large batteries.
It’s shameful that no professional engineering or scientific organisations are prepared to come out and explain the engineering infeasibly of running a modern society on wind and solar; plus the lack of scientific evidence for anthropogenic global warming.
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Was the Fall of Rome a planned outcome?
Where was the ‘Davos’ of the empire?
I think maybe we’ve been Davosed.
We’re definitely WEFed.
Who was the Bono of the Roman Empire?
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The Economist pushes the green renewables agenda hard in each and every issue. Don’t cry crocodile tears about South Africa’s lack of reliable power, eCommunist.
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[…] The electricity system in South Africa is in a tragic state with little hope of rescue in the short term. This is a heart-breaking report from Jo Nova. […]
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[…] South Africa grid struggling with national rolling blackouts: Strikes, corruption and no respect for… […]
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ANC idiots legislation and policy. and admin retards. i bet there is still coal ash piled high in the plants. i bet they are still selling top soil off as sod. when there is rioting people throw food on the streets. and still killing whites. utilities were good until ANC and …
20
Eskom presented a report to Government in the early Mbeki years (1999 – 2009) where they outlined the future outlook and what needed to be built to keep the lights on and meet those future commitments (remember Eskom provides electricity to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique). The ANC government’s response was to ignore and bury the report, remove the Leadership at Eskom and replace them with cronies loyal to the party and communist NDR. The rest is history…
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Green communism preaches concern for the common man, but we all know that green communism is really a way to enslave the common man so that the powerful get the power that they crave. I wonder whether SA turns into Sri Lanka with their corrupt politicians being sacrificed on the altar of their greed or whether tribal loyalty will stand up for the leadership while the tribal leader is making the tribe suffer. Mugabe blamed the white man, will that work in SA. Interesting world.
10