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Terence Creamer

Terence Creamer is the Editor of Engineering News and a Deputy Editor for Mining Weekly. He also has editorial responsibility for Polity.org.za and Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa.

Editorial Insight

Worrying outlier

By: Terence Creamer 9th February 2024 The International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) most recent report on the electricity sector includes a troubling section on Africa’s recent underperformance in this regard. In the section, the authors highlight that per person electricity demand across Africa has been stagnant for three decades,... →

Grid unlocked

By: Terence Creamer 2nd February 2024 As the South African government seeks to re-establish some momentum behind the public procurement of new independent power producer (IPP) generation and storage, much focus will be on how bidders adjust to the grid constraints, real and perceived, when they submit responses to the bid windows... →

Big procurement year

By: Terence Creamer 26th January 2024 The coming year is poised to be the most active ever for the public procurement of new electricity generation capacity. Besides shepherding the already-procured projects to financial close – including battery storage projects in the Northern Cape and those solar photovoltaic projects procured... →

Gas lock-in

By: Terence Creamer 19th January 2024 “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail,” the quote, attributed to Benjamin Franklin, reads. What happens, however, when your plan is a failure? The misnamed draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) of 2023, which was eventually published only on January 4, 2024, has many elements of failure. →

No seamless extension

By: Terence Creamer 15th December 2023 The Koeberg saga, much like South Africa’s ongoing efforts to tackle loadshedding decisively, hardly ever fails to disappoint. Having missed deadline after deadline, Africa’s only nuclear power plant is now cutting it extremely fine in taking the steps necessary to secure a Long-Term Operation... →

No love, but some sympathy

By: Terence Creamer 8th December 2023 There is not much love for ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA). The near-monopoly business is seen as over-protected, and under responsive by many of its customers. Many questions have been raised about the former parastatal over the decades, ranging from its controversial import parity pricing... →

Green growth and jobs

By: Terence Creamer 1st December 2023 Transitioning South Africa’s energy ecosystem from its current over-reliance on coal to one progressively based on the country’s natural advantages of abundant sun, wind and land will take decades. It is, thus, technically possible, and socially desirable to implement strategies that support... →

Light from the tunnel?

By: Terence Creamer 24th November 2023 Reform progress in South Africa rarely moves in a straight line from A to B, with the stop/start nature of the country’s electricity reform being a case in point. Nevertheless, there is a flickering of light beginning to emanate from the long and dark tunnel that the declining freight railways... →

Language of incumbency

By: Terence Creamer 17th November 2023 Two recent Eskom publications are heavily laden with the language of incumbency, which continues to go unchecked by a policymaker distracted by realpolitik rather than real solutions. The first is the Medium-Term System Adequacy Outlook, which Eskom is required to publish yearly to provide a view... →

End of the beginning

By: Terence Creamer 10th November 2023 News that 67 municipalities that collectively owe Eskom R56.8-billion, or 97% of the municipal arrear debt of R58.5-billion owed to the utility at the end of March, have formally applied to participate in a debt write-off programme should be welcomed. At the time of writing, the National Treasury... →

Power in policy

By: Terence Creamer 3rd November 2023 Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has never disguised the fact that he believes that Eskom could be turned around and loadshedding ended if he was made the shareholder-minister responsible for the utility. Some of his recent remarks likening the resignation of senior executives... →

Win-win solution

By: Terence Creamer 27th October 2023 As outlined previously in this column, it makes sense to place exports at the heart of South Africa’s upcoming Green Hydrogen Commercialisation Strategy, despite misplaced concern that this country’s scarce renewable electricity could be used to support rich-country decarbonisation goals ahead of... →

Still no solution

By: Terence Creamer 20th October 2023 For decades now, the issue of the debt owed by municipalities to Eskom has not only remained an intractable problem but one that has grown in both scale and in its potential to create financial jeopardy for both the utility and the national fiscus. There have been countless initiatives by Eskom... →

Why export?

By: Terence Creamer 13th October 2023 When the topic of green hydrogen arises in South Africa, two concerns are commonly raised, and these will remain significant issues to address should South Africa eventually begin to develop the industry at scale. The first question is where the water will come from, given that green hydrogen is... →

Noxious trade-offs

By: Terence Creamer 6th October 2023 The decision by Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy to uphold a decision of the National Air Quality Officer (NAQO) to permit the Kusile power station to postpone its compliance with minimum emission standards (MES) until March 31, 2025, has again brought to the fore... →

Solutions vs problems

By: Terence Creamer 29th September 2023 There are many differences between Australia and South Africa, and these should not be dismissed or diminished. However, there are also several similarities, particularly when it comes to natural resources and conditions. Like Australia, South Africa has significant mineral resources that are in... →

Party pooper

By: Terence Creamer 22nd September 2023 As D-Day for the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) approaches, it is evident that the National Treasury will need to go against the political grain if it is to achieve its objective of presenting a “credible fiscal framework”. That political grain is determined by the fact that 2024 is... →

Debt derailment?

By: Terence Creamer 15th September 2023 As with so much else in South Africa currently, the indication given by new Transnet chairperson Andile Sangqu that the State-owned freight logistics group may require an equity injection is shocking but not surprising. The bail-out warning was provided by Sangqu during the troubled group’s... →

Here we go?

By: Terence Creamer 8th September 2023 Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has confirmed that he aims to secure Cabinet approval to publish an updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for public consultation during a Cabinet meeting this month. Dubbing the draft update ‘IRP 2023’, he reports that he even decided not to... →

Laggard costs

By: Terence Creamer 1st September 2023 The cost of failing to keep pace with what is required economically and environmentally for energy sustainability should surely now be plain for all to see. Besides the fiscal costs associated with ongoing Eskom bailouts, which more recently evolved into a R254-billion debt-relief package, the... →

Ongoing distortions

By: Terence Creamer 25th August 2023 As has been highlighted in this column previously, South Africa’s energy transition has become a highly contested topic and is, thus, a hotbed for the spreading of misinformation and ‘fake news’. The most recent example are social media posts, accompanied by some traditional media reporting, on... →

Weakest link

By: Terence Creamer 18th August 2023 The attention being paid to the national electricity crisis appears to be yielding some results, albeit insufficient in speed and scale to fully address the crisis. As the one-year update on the Energy Action Plan indicates, some Eskom coal power stations are operating more stably, and the... →

Where’s the urgency?

By: Terence Creamer 11th August 2023 The Energy Regulator’s decision to transfer the transmission facilities licence to the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTC) is indeed a “milestone”, as was highlighted by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) when the approval was made in late July. It is an important... →

Post-truth energy politics

By: Terence Creamer 4th August 2023 In any healthy democracy, debate is not only vital but should be encouraged. However, a healthy democracy also requires that the contestation of ideas must be based on a common set of agreed facts, even where there is disagreement over how those facts should be interpreted. Healthy democracies... →

Renewables rhythm

By: Terence Creamer 28th July 2023 Once lauded as an international benchmark, South Africa’s Renewable Energy independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) has struggled to rediscover its rhythm after being disrupted for seven years by the then State-captured Eskom leadership. Prior to 2015 and Eskom’s announcement... →

Time to act

By: Terence Creamer 21st July 2023 Three recent international publications have underlined just how urgent it is for South Africa to respond to the challenges and opportunities being presented by the strong growth in demand for those minerals needed for the unfolding energy transition. The first is the International Energy... →

Shift in focus

By: Terence Creamer 14th July 2023 While it is far too early to declare victory over loadshedding, with many perils still to overcome across many fronts, Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is correct in wanting to shift South Africa’s focus away from its current fixation with generation and towards grid investment.... →

Help or hindrance?

By: Terence Creamer 7th July 2023 It’s far from ideal that several of South Africa’s main micro-economic problems are being managed by crisis committees made up of government officials, business representatives and consultants. This development highlights not only the serious skills crisis afflicting the public sector but also an... →

Least-cost foundation

By: Terence Creamer 30th June 2023 There is no question that South Africa truly does need to update its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), with the demand, supply and technology cost assumptions in the prevailing 2019 edition having been out of date from the very day of Gazetting, let alone nearly four years later. Yet given South... →

Explaining is losing

By: Terence Creamer 23rd June 2023 The hackneyed political phrase ‘if you're explaining, you're losing’, probably best describes the predicament in which the South African government finds itself currently on a range of topics. The fact that President Cyril Ramaphosa has decided that he needs to send Ministerial envoys to meet G7... →

Move on

By: Terence Creamer 16th June 2023 South Africans are beyond exhausted when it comes to power disruptions and are entirely fed up with false promises. Amid the fatigue and annoyance, it is possible to be convinced by solutions that appear to provide relief without fully understanding the cost of instant gratification. Take the... →

Power of reform

By: Terence Creamer 9th June 2023 For several years, certain forward-looking commentators argued that by making only a minor amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act South Africa could unleash much-needed investment into distributed power generation. After much resistance and some high-profile “arm twisting”, the... →

Vital overhaul

By: Terence Creamer 2nd June 2023 One of the ironies about South Africa’s use of competitive bidding for just about all public procurement, from the purchase of office stationery to diesel locomotives, is that it hardly ever results in value for money. Many goods and services are bought at prices that are often many times above... →

Action, not distraction

By: Terence Creamer 26th May 2023 Political and social turbulence has swirled fiercely ever since former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter appeared in that explosive television interview in February, and has intensified with the release of his book. The tumult has been amplified further by US ambassador Reuben Brigety’s allegations that... →

That blackout feeling

By: Terence Creamer 19th May 2023 There is justifiable concern that South Africa’s grid could collapsed this winter given ongoing high breakdowns across the Eskom coal fleet, the absence of one Koeberg unit and a rise in demand in response to the colder weather. While the probability of a toal blackout is a low, the possibility... →

Pregnant pause

By: Terence Creamer 12th May 2023 It is good news that President Cyril Ramaphosa has finally Gazetted a notice declaring that Section 6 of the National Energy Act, which stipulates that an Integrated Energy Plan (IEP) be crafted in consultation with stakeholders and be regularly updated, should come into operation from April 1,... →

Light from the Tower of Babel

By: Terence Creamer 5th May 2023 South Africa’s electricity discussion has become far less coherent in recent months, taking on all the characteristics of the Tower of Babel, despite the fact that most of the mixed messages have been delivered in English. Even on points where agreement should be relatively straightforward to... →

Last out?

By: Terence Creamer 28th April 2023 Swedish Ambassador to South Africa Håkan Juholt made a profound point at a recent workshop hosted to discuss decarbonisation options for South Africa’s steel value chain, which currently employs some 260 000 people. The politician-turned-diplomat quoted late Swedish trade unionist and politician... →

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