It is no secret that we face an electricity crisis in South Africa. Eskom have just not been able to cope with the increase in demand of electricity due to the growing economy. The government and Eskom are trying to find a solution to the electricity crisis. There are suggestions that new power plants have to be built over the next couple of years and more coal will need to be secured inorder to power these plants. Funding for this expansion has not been easy as consumers seem to be the main contributors to the funding with electricity tariffs set to rise.

There have been calls by many to find alternative means of power to help increase the supply of electricity in South Africa. Many wonder why there has not been a major drive to start using more and more solar power. After all, we are in South Africa where we get a lot of sun shine through out the year. There are many countries in Europe using solar energy and they do not get as much sun shine as we do in South Africa. The cost of setting up the solar power infrastructure is relatively high but it would be a good long term investment.

Another alternative is the use of wind power. We have such a long coast line in South Africa which can be utilised to generate power through the wind. Yet again, just like solar energy, the infrastructure for generating wind power is high but more and more countries are starting to look at using wind power as an alternative.

Jennifer Yousfi of Money Morning wrote a very interesting article about wind power where he stated that there is now a major drive in the US to start using wind power. He stated that wind power could account for 20% of the US’s energy needs within a decade. And it is not only the US which is looking at wind power but also China is looking to go the route of wind. Wind power also has the benefit of being cleaner than its other energy counterparts such as coal. Using wind power would also provide a cleaner environment.

This may be the right time for South Africa to look into investing in wind power as we look for alternatives to help ease the current electricity crisis.

You can click here to read the full article from Money Morning titled - Wind Power: Pickens Lobbies, While China Acts

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