Coal

Part of The President’s plan to help Africa includes 15 billion to expand access to electricity to the people. It was not clear on just how this power would be generated but here is example of a project currently underway. Earlier this week, I traveled to South Africa's Mpumalanga province, the center of the country's coal industry and the home of one of the newest coal-fired power plants,Kusile. Most Americans would probably be surprised to learn that their tax dollars have been used to underwrite Kusile, but they are. And when completed, the 4,800-megawatt plant will be among the largest in the world. EMalahleni, the municipality in which Kusile is located, means "place of coal" in Zulu. Ninety-three percent of South Africa's power comes from coal, and much of that is produced and burned in Mpumalanga.* While much of it is burned in the region's 11 power plants, 25 percent of it is exported to other countries. South Africa is the fifth-largest producer of coal in the world, and 80 percent of its mining takes place in this province. A significant chunk of Kusile's upfront financing—$805 million—came from a direct loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States to Eskom, South Africa's state-owned electric power utility. Here in the US we are closing coal fired plants because of the pollution but to our friends in Africa we say “Good luck”.