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Since the plant, Khi Solar One, began operating early this year near Upington, it has produced enough power for 65,000 homes during the day, but also, thanks to the latest technology, for a few hours after the sun sets.

South Africa is experiencing a boom in renewable energy, nonexistent here just a few years ago. Now, dozens of solar plants clustered in the country’s northern reaches and wind farms operating along the southern coast are generating 2.2 gigawatts — more than what most African nations can produce. As the facilities have increased production, they have helped stop

the blackouts that plagued South Africa until a year ago. In a country still dependent on coal, the renewable energy industry has been lauded by many energy experts and environmentalists as a model for developing nations.

But South Africa’s utility, Eskom, and some government officials do not see it that way. Criticizing wind and solar energy as costly and unreliable, they are pressing instead for a huge investment in nuclear energy: three power stations with a total of up to nine reactors to generate 9.6 gigawatts.

The battle over South Africa’s energy future has become increasingly fierce, often fought over kilowatts and other technical details, sometimes waged with bitter personal attacks between functionaries and electrical engineers. It is also being fought on South Africa’s larger political landscape, with forces seemingly close to the scandal-ridden administration of President Jacob Zuma pushing hardest for the nuclear deal while others support an expansion of renewables……….

Massive nuclear plants will become outdated as national electrical grids are decentralized, critics say. Businesses in South African cities are increasingly installing solar panels, effectively going off the grid. Elsewhere in Africa, it is becoming more and more common to see villagers connecting cellphones to single solar panels outside mud-brick homes.

“The concept of baseload is actually an outdated concept,” said Harald Winkler, the director of the Energy Research Center at the University of Cape Town. “Eskom was built around big coal and to a lesser extent big nuclear — big chunks of baseload power. It’s really myopic in terms of where the future of the grid is going to go. We’re going to see in South Africa and the rest of the world much more decentralized grids.”

Opposition to South Africa’s nuclear plans is also coming from the government’s main research agency, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. An expansion of solar and wind energy, in addition to natural gas, could meet South Africa’s future energy needs for a cheaper price, according to a projection by the council.

“No new coal, no new nuclear,” said Tobias Bischof-Niemz, who leads the council’s research on energy. “South Africa is in a very fortunate situation where we can decarbonize our energy system at negative cost.” http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/world/africa/south-africa-energy-solar-wind-nuclear.html?_r=0