Page 6 - AfrElec Week 10 2023

AfrElec POLICY AfrElec

Eskom’s new projects could eliminate

crippling power outages

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH Africa’s power utility Eskom has said the REIPPPP, which would aim to procure an
that a pipeline of power projects seeking access additional 5,000MW of projects, according to
to the national grid could significantly reduce the department of mineral resources and energy
or eliminate rolling power outages (load shed- (DMRE).
ding) altogether, a local media outlet News24 Eskom also noted that there were large vol-
reports. umes of grid connection applications in some
According to Eskom’s presentation at the areas with limited capacity, adding that big
Distribution Independent Power Producers battery projects could help to relieve grid con-
(IPPs) and Generators conference on February gestion while traditional transmission infra-
28, projects with a combined capacity of 20.2GW structure was being developed. 20.2GW of
are actively seeking national grid access or are According to Gaylor Montmasson-Clair, a wind and solar
already in the process of connecting to it. senior economist at Trade and Industrial Policy
Projects from the government’s Renew- Strategies (TIPS), even half of these planned pro- projects would
able Energy IPPs Procurement Programme jects could substantially reduce load shedding,
(REIPPPP) currently connecting to the grid, although Eskom might still struggle to meet eliminate about
or requesting quotes to do so, total 5,836MW, demand during peak hours. He predicts 2023 to
Eskom said. Additionally, private projects going be “a bumpy ride” since most of the projects will six stages of load
through the same processes with the utility take time to come online. shedding and,
amount to 14,337MW. Montmasson-Clair said BW7 of the REIP-
However, not all projects will be able to go PPP could focus specifically on Mpumalanga in theory, could
ahead, as there is a lack of grid connection capac- province which has ample grid capacity and
ity. The Western Cape, Northern Cape and East- needs to create alternative employment as old overcome the
ern Cape provinces in particular have reached coal-fired power stations and mines reach their
or come close to maximum grid capacity. Data end of life, writes News24. current shortfall.
from the National Energy Regulator of South Hartmut Winkler, a physics professor at the Prof. Harmut Winkler
Africa (NERSA) show that 1,073MW worth of University of Johannesburg, agreed that 20.2GW University of
projects have already been successfully regis- of wind and solar projects would eliminate about Johannesburg
tered in 2023 to date. six stages of load shedding and, in theory, could
Although the scale of the project pipeline overcome the current shortfall. However, Win-
has come as a positive surprise to some in the kler warned that it would probably take up to five
industry, it remains unclear what proportion years to build new plants.
of these projects will succeed in securing grid As a number of Eskom’s old coal-fired power
connections or project finance. According to the plants are to be retired over the next few years,
utility, most of the projects are still in the budget the country would in fact need something in
quotation phase. the order of 30GW of new renewable energy
The power utility said it planned to reserve capacity to plug the supply gap, Winkler said as
some grid capacity for bid window 7 (BW7) of reported by News24.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 10 08•March•2023