RENEWABLE ENERGY
The Reisa Kathu Solar PV installation designed by Zutari
South Africa’s hybrid power solution Globally, growth in the renewable energy market is rapidly gaining momentum. In South Africa’s case, however, there’s a greater sense of urgency, as power utilities and municipalities struggle to meet the growing energy gap. Janice Foster, technical director: Energy Generation at Zutari, expands on key regional trends. By Alastair Currie
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outh Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan 2019 presents a realistic forecast of the future energy mix, which includes the evolving renewables segment. Given the abundance of South Africa’s coal reserves, though, and the major investments that
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have been made in newer power stations like Kusile and Medupi, the plan clearly states that thermal energy will be with us for decades. A similar scenario exists for other developed and developing nations that have existing large-scale thermal power capacity – prime examples being the USA and India. (As an aside, the latter remains a major coal export market for South Africa.) However, most countries, including South Africa, remain committed to the Paris Climate Agreement signed in 2016 and acknowledge the need to transition to greener power sources. Alongside renewables, these include natural gas, cogeneration, hydroelectric power and hydrogen. “In addition to climate change concerns, the spiralling cost of fossil-fuel-based energy is another factor motivating the switch to renewables. Solar and wind plants are prime examples, since they are much more affordable power generators,” Foster explains. For South Africa, renewable and alternative forms of power are part of the medium- to
longer-term solution to the current energy crisis, as Eskom struggles to maintain and run its ageing coal-fired plants and distribution networks. “As power generation experts, our role is to work with public and private sector clients to manage and build existing and future capacity via a multiplatform approach,” Foster continues. “The transition from conventional coal-fired energy to a wider application of renewable power is a complex process. It must be able to integrate and deliver consistently in terms of national baseload and peak demand.”
RMIPPPP opportunities The Department of Mineral Resources & Energy’s Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) will certainly help to simulate activity in that direction. To meet South Africa’s power gap, the RMIPPPP makes provision for the purchase of some 2 000 MW from the open market for activation during 2022. Janice Foster, technical director: Energy Generation, Zutari
