Page 9 - AfrElec Week 42

AfrElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AfrElec

DNG to start South African

LNG bunkering next year

SOUTH AFRICA DNG Energy of South Africa plans to begin safer for marine species.” DNG’s next steps will
LNG bunkering in 2021 in the Port of Coega in be completing the terminal infrastructure and
the Eastern Cape, after securing approval from finalising the delivery of storage and bunkering
authorities. equipment, he continued.
The company said on October 14 that the DNG’s plans for Algoa involve a 160,000 cubic
relevant licence had been issued by the Transnet metre floating LNG (FLNG) storage facility and
National Port Authority, giving DNG the right an 8,000-tonne LNG bunker barge, construc-
to moor its floating storage unit (FSU) in Algoa tion of which was commissioned in South Afri-
Bay. Accordingly, DNG will offer onshore and can Shipyards in 2018. The vessel is the largest
offshore bunkering, using ship-to-ship transfers by weight to be built on the African continent to
for international trading vessels, and so-called date. DNG had earlier hoped to begin bunkering
LNG “milk run” deliveries within the country. in the second quarter of 2020, but its operations
This will involve placing LNG in containers and the permitting process were delayed owing
and trucking it to consumers for use in power to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
generation, replacing more polluting and costlier Algoa is South Africa’s largest bunkering port,
diesel. situated on one of the world’s busiest trading
“The licence enables us to respond to envi- routes. DNG estimates that 56,000 vessels transit
ronmental, legislative and business needs for the the region each year.
South African and the international LNG fuel LNG bunkering is gaining in popularity
markets,” DNG CEO Aldworth Mbalati said. worldwide, in part because of International Mar-
“We are happy to be part of the solution in itime Organisation (IMO) rules that came into
the quest to decarbonise the shipping indus- force at the start of this year, lowering the cap for
try by offering LNG as a transition fuel that is sulphur content in marine fuels. ™

COAL

Eskom to resume grid project in KwaZulu-Natal SA’s Thabametsi coal project in severe doubt

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH Africa’s 630-MW Thabametsi coal- more recently, the Korean legislature’s adoption
fired power plant faces an uncertain future after of a climate crisis declaration last month.
its main contractor, South Korea’s Kepco, said All these comments from Seoul call
that it would no longer invest in new overseas into severe doubt Kepco’s commitment to
coal power ventures. Thabametsi. The Thabametsi project was already
The doubts emerged for the project, which in doubt after South African financiers Nedbank,
is being promoted by Kepco and Japan’s FirstRand and Standard Bank all withdrew from
Marubeni, as Kepco CEO Kim Jong-gap told the project in January 2019.
the South Korean National Assembly that his Before this, Marubeni had also said in 2018
company planned to cancel or convert to LNG that it would not develop any new coal projects.
its two remaining overseas coal power projects The project was included in the South African
at Thabametsi and at Sual 2 (1,000-MW) in the government’s 2018 Integrated Resource Plan,
Philippines. The IPP project would be built in which called for 2,500 MW of new coal-fired
the Lephalale area, Limpopo Province, 300 km IPP capacity. However, the project has already
north-west of Johannesburg. been criticised in South Africa for its high tar-
His comments come after the South Korean iffs, which the Integrated Resource Plan put at
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy ZAR1.19 ($0.073) per kWh.
announced that Kepco currently had no more South Africa has recently slowly come round
overseas coal power projects in the pipeline after to the falling cost of renewables, while Eskom
Vung Ang 2 in Vietnam. itself admitted that it was looking to develop
South Korea’s recent overseas coal power pro- new renewables projects as they are now cheaper
jects in Indonesia and Vietnam have met with than coal. The plant would also contribute to
widespread international criticism, especially pollution, especially as the location is close to
given the Moon administration’s drive with the the 3,990-MW Matimba plant and the 4,765-
Korean Green New Deal, which aims for a “net- MW Medupi power plant, which is still under
zero emissions society”, earlier this year, and construction.™

Week 42 22•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9