Jacob Maroga
@jacob_maroga
Former CEO of Eskom. BSc(Eng) (Wits), Advanced Management Program(Harvard Business School), Leadership |Energy|Infrastructure| Property Management
The notion that developing countries can bypass manufacturing — and leap straight to services instead — ignores how every major economy actually developed.
“Renewable energy is propping up the system” - It is this engineering fiction that caused the biggest energy crisis in RSA between 2018 and 2023. The massive reduction in loadshedding from early 2024, arises primarily from the impressive turnaround in the performance of coal…
Even Mark Carney - the former High Priest of Net Zero - is ramping up gas production in Canada. The world has changed. Ed Miliband must realise that his plans to shut down the North Sea, only to import more gas from Norway - from the very same fields he is making Britain close…
Canada’s bid to become an energy superpower on.ft.com/4nKH1Zw
Global coal demand grew by 1.5% in 2024, reaching an all-time high. The main driver for global coal demand is power generation which reached the highest recorded level in 2024.@IEA The growing economies of China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam etc are driven by growing coal power…
Spain's gas demand soars as power plants burn more since blackout reuters.com/sustainability…
Europe, particularly Spain, Germany and Britain, have learnt a very hard lesson: Adding megawatts of weather-dependent generation DOESN’T equal to GRID RELIABILITY, ENERGY SECURITY & AFFORDABILITY
Spain has increased the use of dispatchable gas generation by 41% since the nationwide blackout in April. The increased gas generation is used as ‘reinforcement of the electricity supply security’.
Vietnam's manufacturing sector employs 15M people (30% of the workforce). China's manufacturing sector employs 215M people (28% of the workforce). These are two of the world's fastest-growing economies. Labor-intensive industrialization is clearly *not* a thing of the past.
“We should be learning from Germany’s mistakes, not repeating them.” - Message to Australia by @JohnAndersonAC on the Energy Transition
It’s disconcerting to see our Energy Minister looking to Germany as a model for our energy transition — a nation now grappling with some of the highest power prices in the world, industrial decline, and an unstable grid. We should be learning from Germany’s mistakes, not…
“World Energy Council: Unsuccessful - The Harsh Expert Verdict on the German Energy Transition” x.com/i/grok/share/a…
In this context inertia is resistance to change Grids run on alternating current which is produced from the rotation of conventional turbines (gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, but not wind) The speed of rotation creates the shape of the alternating current and voltage which is a sine…
De Ruyter had no clue — Electricity minister – MyBroadband mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/60…
How did Germany mess up their power grid? Influential German entities, like the Green Party, framed renewables as ‘complete solution’ to replace fossil fuels and nuclear and supply ‘reliable and sustainable energy for Germany’ This ideological optimism underestimated the impact…
Interesting short paper from @WoodMackenzie on the coal. Very much in-line with my own view: "The world is facing a stark reality: coal-fired power could be a bigger part of the energy mix for longer than expected" #coal #CoalTwitter #ClimateCrisis woodmac.com/horizons/new-e…
The Iberian blackout demonstrated the importance of voltage control and reactive power, but these concepts are poorly understood even by people within the electricity sector In this two-part series of posts I will look at voltage, active power and reactive power in power grids…
Trump touts $90bn in energy and AI investments at Pennsylvania event on.ft.com/3TKwH5U
In news that will surprise absolutely no one: The UK government will subsidize solar and wind producers longer from the next renewable auction: the fixed-price so-called contracts-for-difference (CfD) will be now for 20 years, rather than 15 years. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68766d6e…