LET 'EM LOOSE

IF ever evidence was needed to prove the obvious -- that private initiative and the profit motive were the prime engines of change and progress -- South Africa's energy crunch provides it. Since it became generally known that economic growth and poor planning in the last ten years meant a massive and growing energy gap, every man and his dog have come up with a plan; pipeline companies have sprung up; plans for refineries have been announced; power station plans have been unveiled. You name it, there is someone planning it. Of course, there are some chancers among those who plan to fill the energy gaps. And some of them seem to be coy about where the money will come from. But there sure is a lot of mental energy being directed at the problem. The latest announcement is that Sasol plans a R2,5 billion gas-fired power station at Secunda. The gas will come from Pande in Mocambique. The money will come from the cash Sasol has been accumulating from its stranglehold on the inland fuels market. All this is good news, of course, but how much will turn into facts on the ground is another mater. Timing is an issue too. For reasons Spigot can never quite fathom, we still place massive bureaucratic hurdles in the way of people willing to grow our economy. There are reported to be 100 different schemes to build co-generation power plants. Why not just let them get on with it? Silly question.

Who is kidding who?

WHEN consultants blame Governments for delays that are harming an industry that does not yet exist, Spigot smells a large rat. So it is with the so called bio fuels industry (one hardly-used and now mothballed ethanol distillery near Bothaville) which is being hyped to death to the extent that consultants think a boom in fees is coming their way. Consulting company Frost & Sullivan , while complaining of delays by Government, is contributing mightily to the hype by claiming this week that, "the South African bio fuels market could earn revenues of $872-million in 2010, and over one-billion dollars in 2013." Mmm. Don't count your chickens, chaps. It added -- and note the use of the subjunctive --"Bio fuels could play an important role in stimulating economic activity in agricultural communities and boosting employment..." Could, not will. The consultancy did say that while the South African bio fuels market was "currently only theoretical". Just a grain of truth there.

French people do not glow in the dark

Looks like the Greenies have finally been sidelined on the nuclear issue. Eskom says it plans to have its first new nuclear reactor in South Africa up and running by the middle of 2015 and therafter other nuclear reactors EVERY SIX MONTHS. Ho, ho, that must mean that Eskom is banking on the pebble bed reactors being ready to go by then. Guess they must know something more than the amateurish types who made the anti-nuclear documentary aired on Carte Blanche on Sunday. Embarrassing to watch, this self-indulgent nonsense paraded the usual suspects and allowed them to repeat all the ill-informed alarmist BS that pass for articles of faith among environmentalists. The Three Mile Island incident was compared with Chernobyl -- which is like comparing apples with olives. No mention of the fact that the Three Mile Island incident neither killed nor injured anyone. Radiation victims of the Hiroshima bomb were shown as proof of the dangers of nuclear power generators -- which is like comparing a teaspoon of gunpowder with an artillery shell. No mention made of France where for years 80 per cent of its electricity has been provided by nuclear reactors.. As far as Spigot knows, French people do not glow in the dark.

Algae – not a bio fool

Is South Africa having second thoughts about jumping on the bio-fuels bandwagon (or boondoggle) -- take your pick? Let's hope so. Only Jatropha so far holds out the hope of a non-food crop we could grow to produce bio-diesel and even it has huge risks in a drought ridden continent. Using maize is plain foolish. As is using any other food crop. But there is another potential way -- to use algae. Our own Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is now reportedly aiming to develop a process for the production of biodiesel from algae. "Algae have long been known to produce lipids (a type of fat) that can be used for biodiesel production," a spokesman is quoted as saying this week. Its other advantages are that it does not use arable land. And it grows in waste water ie industrial and domestic effluent. Go for it manne!