South Africa’s renewables sector is calling for the acceleration of green energy generation as the country has, once again, been thrown into darkness by the latest bout of load-shedding.
Power utility Eskom, which supplies the majority of SA’s electricity from ageing coal-fired power plants, this week implemented stage four load-shedding following a barrage of breakdowns, shutdowns and trips at power stations across the country.
This includes the loss of about seven units in one night, which left the power system under severe pressure.
On Friday, Eskom reduced the level to stage two.
In his State of the Nation Address last month, president Cyril Ramaphosa said renewable energy has the capacity to resuscitate SA’s frail energy sector, which he believes will give a much-needed boost to the economy.
As the country’s energy availability factor once again dips below the 60% mark, renewable energy industry body, the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA), is advocating that increased power generation from renewables needs to be accelerated.
The association is specifically referring to opportunity to build private generation plants by independent power producers (IPPs) in the Mpumalanga province.
“Eskom first announced its intention to initiate an auction process that will unlock and make land alongside its power stations available to private investors for renewable power plants, towards the end of last year,” says Niveshen Govender, CEO of SAWEA.
Govender explains this proposed option will remove significant barriers and increase the country’s energy availability factor quicker than alternative options, as it will drive the production of much-needed new clean power in a corner of the country that has not been looked at as a feasible destination for renewable energy in the past.
“This move to deploy renewable power in Mpumalanga can facilitate faster power deployment and help South Africa’s just energy transition, considering that this area will become a priority area for green investment, thereby increasing the country’s clean energy portfolio,” adds Govender.
Considering that load-shedding continues to increase running costs, as well as reduce productivity and profitability in businesses, it is vital to explore and implement options that will drive up energy availability, says SAWEA.
Furthermore, it adds, on a macro scale, SA’s economy continues to be negatively impacted and will need increased power generation that is cost-effective, in order to increase investor confidence.
“With this option, renewable energy IPPs will have the opportunity to work alongside the systems operator to get more green electrons on the grid, relatively quickly as the maximum amount of electricity generation capacity per project will be capped at 100MW, thereby negating the need for additional licensing,” says Govender.
In an interview with ITWeb, Maloba Tshehla, spokesperson for another renewable energy industry body, the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association, says solar energy can come in handy to reduce the impact of load-shedding.
“Solar allows households as well as businesses to have their own energy security, as they will be able to generate their own power,” says Tshehla.
He points out that a number of businesses are taking advantage of the amendment of schedule two of the Electricity Regulation Act to increase the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (NERSA’s) licensing threshold for embedded generation projects from 1MW to 100MW.
However, he adds that the speed to register renewable energy projects at NERSA needs to be faster if the load-shedding blues are to be beaten.
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