22 March 2019 — Responding to recent statements made by former President Jacob Zuma that South Africa would not be facing loadshedding if we had gone forward with the R1-trillion nuclear deal, Greenpeace Africa has said:
“The former president’s remarks are based on ignorance or denial of the facts, and vested interests to promote nuclear at all costs. Nuclear power is clearly too expensive – especially in the face of Eskom’s debt of over R400bn – but more than that, nuclear power stations take over a decade to build. There is no chance whatsoever that going ahead with the nuclear deal would have helped South Africa avoid loadshedding in 2019.
“Instead, the real solution would have been to fast-track the renewable energy projects that have been put on hold for years, and to remove the barriers to rooftop solar. Renewable energy can be installed much more quickly and cheaply than either coal or nuclear, and if we’re serious about putting an end to loadshedding, speeding up the implementation of renewable energy is absolutely the best approach.”
Media contact:
Chris Vlavianos, Communications Officer – Greenpeace Africa, [email protected], 079 883 7036