Eskom makes inroads

It’s been 17 months since South Africans experienced load shedding, an occurrence that caused inconvenience to businesses and consumers alike.

The National Development Plan (NDP) 2030, which is the blueprint of the country’s development, had expressed concern around the adequate supply of electricity as the country experienced multiple power failures between 2005 and 2008. This resulted in lower economic growth, as well as widespread inconvenience.

Fast forward to 2017, power utility Eskom has surplus energy, even without the use of open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs). This bodes well with the NDP’s vision to have an energy sector that promotes economic growth and development through adequate investment in energy infrastructure by 2030.

South Africa now has healthy electricity reserves and adequate generation capacity to meet demand until 2021. This is a far cry from its history of capacity shortages, excessive diesel use and the late delivery of new power stations.

With support from its shareholder, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), Eskom has been able to turn its fortunes around, with the power system remaining stable and the build programme forging ahead.

Last week, the power utility announced that the last of the four units at the Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme has been brought into commercial operation.

Unit 3 of the plant, which is located on the cross-border of the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal, came into operation, adding 333MW to the country’s electricity grid.

This now means that all four units that make up the plant, are now commercial and produce a total of 1 332MW. The commercial operation of Unit 3 completes the Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme project, further strengthening security of power supply to homes and businesses.

Commercial operation is when the construction and optimisation of the unit is complete and the operator, Eskom Generation Division in this case, takes over the plant and runs it on a commercial basis.

The plant is the African continent’s newest and largest pumped storage scheme. It is the 14th largest pumped storage scheme in the world.

Coal fired power stations

In the 2016 State of the Nation Address (SONA), government announced that it had invested R83 billion in Eskom, which enabled the power utility to continue investing in the coal fired Medupi and Kusile power stations, while continuing with the maintenance programme.

The NDP states that coal will continue to be the dominant fuel in South Africa for the next 20 years.

In December 2016, Kusile power station’s Unit 1 became connected to the national grid for the first time, adding an extra 800 MW to the electricity grid.

The green-fields coal-fired Kusile is located in the Nkangala District of Mpumalanga. Once completed it will comprise six units, each rated at an 800MW installed capacity, with total capacity of 4 800MW.

Meanwhile, the Medupi power plant is inching closer towards commercial operation. In December, Eskom announced that the power station’s Unit 5 was loaded to full load.

Full load is a major milestone in the process of commissioning and optimisation of the unit en route to commercial operation.

Renewable energy

The NDP has also stressed the importance of a greater mix of energy sources and a greater diversity of independent power producers (IPPs) in South Africa’s energy mix. This has become a reality through the Department of Energy’s Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPP).

The renewables programme, which is seen an example for other African countries, has resulted in over 6 000 MW of generation capacity being allocated to bidders across a variety of technologies, principally in wind and solar.

In November 2016, Eskom said it had spent approximately R9.5 billion in IPP renewable energy, while some 2 000 megawatts is already connected to the grid.

REIPPP is aimed at bringing additional megawatts onto the country’s electricity system through private sector investment in wind, biomass and small hydro, among others.

Nuclear

South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan states that more nuclear energy plants will need to be commissioned from 2023/24. The document further states that while nuclear power provides a low carbon base-load alternative the country needs a thorough investigation on the implications of nuclear energy.

Government has said that the nuclear energy expansion programme remains a part of South Africa’s future energy mix.

Recently, Eskom said it has received a positive response to the Request for Information (RFI) it issued in relation to the proposed nuclear new build programme.

To date, 27 companies have stated their intention to provide a response to the RFI.

The RFI was issued on Eskom’s website on 20 December 2016 and asked companies that felt they could provide relevant information to confirm by 10:30am on Tuesday, 31 January 2017 that they would be submitting a response to Eskom by 10am on 28 April 2017.

South Africa has continued to state that nuclear power will only be procured at a scale that the country can afford, in line with the NDP’s advice that an in depth investigation into the financial viability of nuclear energy be done.

The country plans to introduce 9 600 MW of nuclear energy in the next decade, in addition to running the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant.

However the plan also calls on an alternative plan should nuclear energy prove to be too expensive.

Source: South African Government News Agency

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