The elephant in the substation

Everybody knows that renewable energy is great for us all: it is free, it does not pollute, it keeps big bad Eskom on its toes and it  represents huge investments in South Africa. What is there not to love? The bids for various wind power farms (this is the amount for which Eskom has to buy power from the wind farm, anytime, day or night) are in accordance with four 'bidding windows', which were tendered in the last six years. For Bid Window 1, the amount Eskom will have to pay for wind power is R1.14/kWh, on average. It will have to pay R0.90/kWh for Bid Window 2, R0.74/kWh for Bid Window 3 and R0.62/kWh for Bid Window 4.