POWER HAS NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT

Whether it’s a power ship, green hydrogen, nuclear, solar, wind or coal fired energy, South Africa needs to bring everything to the table right now. Last year, government, industry and the public in general endured a record level of load-shedding. It was collectively referred to as a power crisis, but it’s well beyond that now as we enter unprecedented territory as a country.

PUBLISHER Jacques Breytenbach

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Stage 8 and perhaps Stage 16 are being mooted. It’s an unimaginable scenario that requires a herculean response that fully embraces public and private sector participation among South Africa’s top leaders. It’s a time for unity and a tremendous opportunity to show the world that South Africa has the will, expertise and innovation to turn the situation around in the shortest time possible through a major ramping up in independent power producer (IPP) capability.

This responsibility will now officially be spearheaded by the Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. This follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to sign a proclamation in May 2023 that “transfers to the Minister of Electricity certain powers and functions entrusted by the Electricity Regulation Act (No. 4 of 2006).” This refers specifically to Section 34(1) and Section 34(2) of the Act, which deals with new generation capacity.

South Africa is committed to a Just Energy Transition. But the reality is that fossil fuels will be with us for many years to come, while in parallel renewables at scale steadily begin to dominate as a national power security solution. That process is gaining rapid momentum as business invests heavily in solar as an essential process in helping to balance base load requirements.

However, for energy-intensive sectors like manufacturing – a core component of the construction materials supply chain – the only way at present to sustain operations is by running on diesel during blackouts. That erodes margins and can led to ‘job shedding’, something we need to avoid at all costs.

Grid stability is vital

Either way, one of the most pressing concerns is the need for smarter grid stability, which incorporates transmission network upgrades and investments in municipal microgrids. Transmission has always been the backbone to energy supply, but it’s now also the essential market for IPPs selling, or wheeling, power to the grid and end-users.

This will be the key to unlocking groundbreaking initiatives like the City of Cape Town’s recent release of a 500 MW dispatchable energy tender, which includes proposals like battery storage, and gas-topower, with successful IPPs awarded 10-year power purchase agreements.

Keeping it in the cloud

Power is what drives our society and economy. It’s also the foundation for intelligent connectivity and the smart cities of the future – designed, operated and managed in the cloud. However, to operate effectively, cloud-based systems need fully functioning data centres, and network towers require sustained energy to ensure interrupted transmission for e-services. This will be a major priority as South Africa enters the winter months, with the prospect of higher levels of load-shedding.

In the end, though, solving our power woes is a collective responsibility. To underscore this, at the end of December 2023, around R56.3 billion in unpaid bulk electricity supply was owed to Eskom by municipalities. In addition to poor revenue collection, a key contributor is non-payment for services rendered. Prepaid metering is part of the solution because, unless consumers qualify for indigent services, going forward everyone needs to contribute to maintaining and upgrading our transmission network.

Alastair

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