Electric Capitalism

ELECTRIC CAPITALISM RECOLONISING AFRICA ON THE POWER GRID EDITED BY DAVID A McDONALD London • Sterling, VA Cape Town First published in Southern Africa in 2009 by HSRC Press Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa www.hsrcpress.ac.za Published in the rest of the world in 2009 by Earthscan Dunstan House, 14a St Cross Street,London EC1N 8XA, UK 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling,VA 20166-2012, USA www.earthscan.co.uk Earthscan publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for. Distributed in Southern Africa by Blue Weaver Tel: +27 (0) 21 701 4477; Fax: +27 (0) 21 701 7302 www.oneworldbooks.com Distributed in the rest of the world by Earthscan Dunstan House, 14a St Cross Street,London EC1N 8XA, UK 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling,VA 20166-2012, USA Tel: +44 (0)20 7841 1930 Fax: +44 (0)20 7242 1474 Email: earthinfo@earthscan.co.uk www.earthscan.co.uk © 2009 Human Sciences Research Council The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors.They do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Human Sciences Research Council (‘the Council’) or indicate that the Council endorses the views of the authors.In quoting from this publication, readers are advised to attribute the source of the information to the individual author concerned and not to the Council. Copyedited by Karen Press Typeset by Christabel Hardacre Cover by FUEL Design Printed on uncoated woodfree paper by Logo Print, Cape Town Southern Africa ISBN (soft cover) 978-0-7969-2237-3 Rest of the world ISBN (hard cover) 978-1-84407-714-4 Pdf ISBN 978-0-7969-2246-5 Contents List of tables and figures v Acronyms and abbreviations viii Acknowledgements xiv Introduction: The importance of being electric xv DavidA McDonald 1 Electric capitalism: Conceptualising electricity and capital accumulation in (South)Africa 1 DavidA McDonald 2 Escom to Eskom: From racial Keynesian capitalism to neo-liberalism (1910–1994) 50 LeonardGentle 3 Market liberalisation and continental expansion: The repositioning of Eskom in post-apartheid SouthAfrica 73 Stephen Greenberg 4 Cheap at half the cost: Coal and electricity in SouthAfrica 109 RichardWorthington 5 The great hydro-rush: The privatisation of Africa’s rivers 149 Terri Hathaway andLori Pottinger 6 A price too high: Nuclear energy in SouthAfrica 180 DavidFig 7 Renewable energy: Harnessing the power of Africa? 202 Liz McDaid 8 Discipline and the new‘logic of delivery’: Prepaid electricity in SouthAfrica and beyond 229 Peter van Heusden 9 Free basic electricity in SouthAfrica:A strategy for helping or containing the poor? 248 GregRuiters 10 Power to the people?A rights-based analysis of SouthAfrica’s electricity services 264 JackieDugard 11 Still in the shadows:Women and gender relations in the electricity sector in SouthAfrica 288 Wendy Annecke 12 From local to global (and back again?):Anti-commodification struggles of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee 321 Prishani NaidooandAhmedVeriava 13 SouthAfrican carbon trading:A counterproductive climate change strategy 338 PatrickBondandGrahamErion 14 Electricity and privatisation in Uganda: The origins of the crisis and problems with the response 359 Christopher Gore 15 Connected geographies and struggles over access: Electricity commercialisation in Tanzania 400 Rebecca Ghanadan Conclusion:Alternative electricity paths for southernAfrica 437 DavidA McDonald Epilogue 454 Appendix 1: Electricity 101 459 DerekBrine Appendix 2:Absolute and relative electricity profiles 479 Notes on contributors 484 Index 486 List of tables and figures Tables Table 1 Benefits of electricity as they relate to the Millennium Development Goals xvii Table 1.1 Electrical appliance ownership in South Africa (percentages), by race, 2006 17 Table 1.2 Southern African Power Pool membership, 2006 31 Table 1.3 Electricity capacity in Africa, by region, 2005 33 Table 2.1 Electricity sales in South Africa, by company, 1939 55 Table 2.2 Electricity generation capacity growth in South Africa, 1961–1992 63 Table 4.1 Eskom’s coal-fired power stations, 2004 120 Table 4.2 IEA energy statistics for sub-Saharan African countries,2003 125 Table 4.3 Toxic effects of selected power plant pollutants on humans 127 Table 4.4 Table 4.5 Environmental impacts of Eskom electricity generation, 2004–2005 129 Air emissions from South Africa’s main energy producers (tons), 2004 130 Table 4.6 Table 4.7 Fuel combustion CO2 emissions by intensity and per capita, 2000 131 Sector emissions in South Africa, 1990 and 1994 131 Table 4.8 Summary of external costs of Eskom electricity generation,1999 135 Table 4.9 Summary of external costs of Eskom electricity generation (per unit), 1999 136 Table 7.1 Job-creation potential of renewable and non-renewable energy technologies 206 Table 7.2 Comparative contribution of renewables to total energy demand (percentage), 2050 212 Table 7.3 Comparison of solar water heaters and the pebble bed technology nuclear reactor 213 Table 9.1 Energy used, by appliance 252 Table 9.2 Households receiving free basic electricity services from municipalities, 2003–2004 256 Table 13.1 Energy sector carbon emissions, 1999 352 Table 15.1 Shifts from state-led development to market-led provision in electricity 404 Table 15.2 Key elements of Tanzania’s electricity reforms, as of December 2006 405 Table 15.3 South African electricity prepayment meters in Africa, 2005 409 v ... - tailieumienphi.vn