Page 18 - IFV Issue 1 January 2026

Estate News

However, a new nuclear-powered Ruyter notes, “And both businesses and the grid more effectively than many
solution may take fifteen years and families who can afford the transition are realise. While the state wrestles with
new coal at least a decade — that is, if taking the plunge.” macro-projects, citizens are rewiring the
anyone were still willing to finance or This isn’t rebellion, he insists, but nation one inverter at a time.
insure it. rational adaptation. Old coal plants gulp
“If you have an imminent shortfall, water and leak money, but renewables Designing the next grid
sure, gas can be part of the portfolio,” he free both. If generation is decentralising, the grid
concedes, “but we must understand that AI “Older power stations use an incredible must evolve to match.
data centres have pushed demand for gas amount of water,” he explains. “Freeing De Ruyter postulates, “Continue the
turbines to current lead times of seven years. that water up could drive immense growth implementation of the independent
And exposing a large part of your electricity in agriculture – one of our most labour- transmission system operator – the JSE of
cost base to the vagaries of imported natural intensive and economically essential electricity – where buyers and sellers can
gas, with the risk of changes in exchange sectors.” engage in longer-term contracts or day-
rates, may create even more upward Economic competitiveness, tariff ahead trading. In Germany, prices are set
pressure on electricity cost.” stability and job creation all hinge on the every few minutes; that’s how dynamic a
Pragmatically, speed saves costs. same pivot: cleaner, faster, decentralised market can be. There’s no reason we can’t
Renewable projects deliver megawatts power. move that way.”
while slower options are still clearing As De Ruyter notes, in Germany’s
permits. De Ruyter suggests that the Private energy, public good “Day-ahead market,” wholesale prices
result is simple arithmetic: a cheaper, “The private sector has repeatedly shown on the Electricity Exchange are set
faster path to energy security. itself ready, willing and able to invest in for every 15-minute interval of the
new generation capacity,” he says. following day, reflecting actual supply
Competition is an energy question Indeed, in just eighteen months, and demand dynamics. This transparent
Tariffs rise while household budgets private developers and households electricity marketplace invites
don’t, and the compound effect is installed somewhere between 6,000 efficiency, competition and innovation.
pushing citizens to act before the state and 7,500 MW of rooftop solar — the So, logically, as De Ruyter puts it, “Why
does. equivalent of one and a half Medupis would we not do that?”
“With the current inflation trajectory, quietly materialising above the country’s
rooftop solar and batteries are one of roofs. The borrowed-light moment
the best investments you can make,” De That silent revolution has stabilised The recent reprieve from load-

16 • January/February 2026 • The Villager