Page 8 - AfrElec Week 32 2021

AfrElec DISTRIBUTED GENERATION AfrElec
South Africa raises distributed generation limit to 100 MW
SOUTH AFRICA
THE South African government has raised from 1 MW to 100 MW the limit for private power generation without a licence, in a bit to bring new generation of electricity capacity onto the national grid.
The government has published amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act, which raises the threshold to 100 MW above which a generating licence is required, thereby making it far easier for small self-generated, or distributed, power projects to be developed.
The decision was hinted at by Minerals and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on August 7, when he told Parliament that “Yes. Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act will be amended to increase the Nersa (National Energy Regulator of South Africa) licensing threshold for embedded generation projects from 1MW to 100MW.”
The changes follow on from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s statement in June that the thresh- old would be raised in a bid to inject some com- petition into the South African power sector and the economy as a whole.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has published a national infrastructure plan, focusing on the government’s major developments up to 2050. A key element is a significant shift away from fossil fuels over the next 30 years.
The key driver is the poor performance of Eskom, whose coal-fired power stations have been unable to meet demand for electricity, lead- ing to widespread power cuts.
“Load shedding since 2014 has been caused by a combination of factors such as delayed com- missioning, the underperformance of new-build
coal generation capacity, and the degradation of the existing Eskom coal fleet, with energy avail- ability factor declining from 94% in 2002 to 67% in 2019,” the DPWI said.
“Policy indecision over the past two decades has significantly contributed to Eskom’s finan- cial demise, with its pricing not historically in line with depreciation, constraining its ability to retain earnings for future investment. Eskom has declined from a world-leading utility to one that is financially insolvent, operating at very low levels of energy availability and struggling under a load of poorly designed and project managed new mega coal projects,” the DPWI added.
Major changes include a restructuring of Eskom into three legally separated entities for generation, transmission and distribution.
The Independent Transmission System and Market Operator (ITSMO) will be established by 2021/2.
Meanwhile, the government aims to ensure the independence of the regulator NERSA by reviewing how its councillors are appointed. It will also set up a new appeals procedure to ensure accountability
In terms of capacity, the government aims to procure 4,000 MW of emergency power in 2021/22.
It also aims to procure 3,200 MW from renewables Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in 2021 and 10,000 Mw in 2022.
The government also aims to procure 800– 1,000 MWh of battery storage by 2023/24, of which 513 MWh will be procured by 2022.
It also set a target for 5,000 MW of embedded generation.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 31 05•August•2021