The current state of affairs

South Africa’s GDP growth in 2005 (4.9%) and 2006 (5.4%) was hugely encouraging and the growth targets for reducing poverty looked to be on track. Despite the growth and increased demand for electricity, South Africans continued to enjoy some of the lowest electricity costs. The bountiful supply of coal reserves in South Africa had in the past helped allay any fears of power shortages.

Unfortunately the increased levels of economic growth put huge strain on the national electricity provider, Eskom’s, capacity. In order to cater for the increased demands, Eskom itself admitted that much of the additional coal purchased was on short-term contracts and that the percentage of coal being purchased at the higher rate had increased from 2% to 21% between 2001 and 2007.

Even with more coal being purchased, Eskom's power generating capacity also came under strain. Statistics SA released figures that indicated that South Africa's electricity consumption during 2007 rose by 4.4%, while their production of electricity in 2007 only rose by 3.8%. In a presentation given last year by Eskom executives at the Junior Coal Mining Ventures in August, it was determined that the rate at which Eskom burnt coal rose at an annual rate of 4.5% from 1999 to 2007, while the annual coal production only grew at an annual rate of 1.4% from 1998 to 2007.

The quality of coal also proved to be a problem at times with the ash content being too high and this resulted in less power being generated.

The sector that probably put most strain on the supply of power was the aluminium mining industry, which used huge amounts of power in their smelters.

In Cape Town, these problems were compounded by the damaging of one of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station’s generators in December 2005. Over the next few months, the shortfall of electricity at peak times was 300MW.

These various problems led to a sustained period of power-cuts and load-shedding, which severely impeded many businesses, government departments and other organisations. The issue of power supply has since been one of the most pressing issues in South Africa and this has contributed to a large hike in electricity costs for the South African population. On top of this, there is local and international pressure to examine renewable energy options, particularly in light of burning coal’s impact on the environment.

Looking forward

There is however light at the end of the tunnel. A number of new power plants have been and are being built and there are others in the pipeline. Two years ago the Ankerlig and Gourikwa open cycle gas turbine stations were opened with new units in these stations being completed since.

Eskom is also in the process of developing the Medupi power station in Lephalale, Limpopo Province, which is set to have 4 500 megawatts of installed capacity when finished.

In addition to this, Eskom notes that, “On 29 February 2008 Eskom awarded contracts worth about R31,5 billion for its ‘Kusile Project’, a coal-fired power station being built near Emalahleni in Mpumalanga. This station is expected to be completed in late 2016.

“The return to service of the three mothballed coal-fired power stations, Camden, Komati and Grootvlei, is progressing well. Camden with a capacity of 1520MW was completed in 2008.Two units each of 125MW have been delivered at Komati while another two units have been delivered at Grootvlei with a capacity 200MW each.

“Work is also progressing well on Ingula, a pumped-storage scheme near Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, with a planned capacity of 1 352MW. The station is planned to be fully operational by the middle of 2013.”

Renewable energy

On the renewable energy side Southern Africa’s capacity has not even come close to being realised. A commercial wind farm has been established outside Darling on the west coast of South Africa and a new wind farm in the Eastern Cape at the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) is going to be funded by a large Belgian renewable energy company.

Solar energy is another potential growth area with a suitable climate in large parts of Southern Africa providing potentially the perfect environment for solar power plants. One small-scale but successful example of solar water heating was launched at Anglo Platinum Brakfontein shaft in early September, where the project was looking at save the shaft 421.54 MWh a year.

Biofuels is a less prominent energy source and there is great debate surrounding whether burning certain crops such as maize or canola increases the price of these commodities, to the detriment of the poor. Despite the controversy and the government’s non-committal attitude towards any major biofuels projects, there are a number of projects developing new ways of producing energy. In the Eastern Cape a project is taking place at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, with InnoVenton, the university’s institute of chemical technology, announcing a pilot project to use marine algae to convert carbon dioxide into biofuels. There are also projects springing up in KwaZulu-Natal and in the North West where they are looking for investors and further expertise.

More notably, the energy potential of hydro-electrical power is immense. There is the Mphanda Nkuwa hydro power station, on the Zambezi river in the Tete Province of Mozambique; the Itezhi Tezhi hydro power station to be built on an existing dam in the Kafu River in Zambia; the Kariba North Bank Extension (an existing dam on the Zambian side); and lastly the massive potential of the proposed Inga Dam and hydro-electric power harnessed from the Congo River. The Inga 3 site is set to provide 5000 MW of power and as part of the multinational agreement, South Africa is set to import 3000MW of that total. All these projects are part of the Southern African Power Pool’s (SAPP) plans to match the energy demands in Southern Africa by 2016.

PBMR

Lastly, South Africa is looking to go ahead with its Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) as the new nuclear power source. There is opposition from environmental groups about the disposal of nuclear waste and the general dangers of nuclear technology as well as the costs involved in developing the technology. However, despite some negative sentiment the technology is state of the art and the US has even entered into the fray by stating that they are willing to help support research in new nuclear technologies. In a recent meeting between South Africa's Energy Minister Dipuo Peters and the US Energy Secretary Steven Chu the two discussed and put pen to paper on a bilateral agreement on research into next-generation nuclear technology, including the PBMR.

The PBMR concept is one with a short construction time, low operating cost and fast load-following characteristics. These small electricity generation plants can also be placed near to the points of demand, particularly in large urban areas which experience peaks in demand at certain times of year. The plan to build 24 modules would provide just under 4000 MW of power and would provide competitive power generation in coastal areas.

On top of the main energy sources that are prominent in the public eye, recent news stories have revealed the potential for new and innovative ways to provide power such as biogas-from-waste and refuse-derived fuel.

There are many alternatives and Eskom’s challenge is to raise the finance for those projects that are most feasible particularly in the next 5-10 years. Eskom has rolled out an expansion plan that will cost about R380-billion so there is no doubt that the task ahead is a challenging one.