As South African utility Eskom is implementing load shedding due to power plant failure at more than five generating units, the 4 GW of wind and solar installed in the country are helping reduce energy shortages. In a short conversation with pv magazine, energy specialist at Blue Horizon Energy Consulting Services, Chris Ahlfeldt, explains how more installed power from solar and renewables, unlike Eskom’s current conventional projects to expand capacity, may provide a safer and cheaper solution to this power crisis.
Load shedding is a well-known concept among South Africans: it means power utility Eskom is reducing power supply when the national electrical demand on the network is greater than its capacity to supply. The measure is used as a last resort and responds to an emergency situation, after all attempts to balance the supply and demand has failed. Eskom’s load shedding schedule accounts for Stage 8 rotational cuts, with Stage 8 representing that last step before complete breakdown of the system.
On February 10, Eskom announced unexpectedly it started to implement load shedding and that, although it was initially planning to start from Stage 2, it escalated to Stage 4 as further seven generating units that tripped within a period of five hours. The decision was due, the company said, to unspecified generation shortages over the weekend and constraints in diesel supply. This morning, however, Eskom said load shedding was lowered at Stage 3, while also appealing to residents and businesses to use electricity sparingly during this period.
In a short interview with pv magazine, Chris Ahlfeldt, energy specialist at Blue Horizon Energy Consulting Services, explained some reasons of this crisis, while also pointing out solar and renewable energies as the real solution. “Eskom’s continued supply challenges, suggest new additional capacity may need to be built sooner than estimated in the draft Integrated Resource Plan if Eskom’s plant availability remains this low,” he said.
According to him, in fact, the utility’s newest power stations under development, Medupi and Kusile, are also struggling with building delays and low reliability due to “design flaws” that are compounding the problem. The 4.8 GW Medupi power station is dry-cooled coal-fired power station being built by Eskom near Lephalale in Limpopo province, while the Kusile coal power plant, which is planned to have also 4.8 GW of capacity, is being constructed near Witbank, in the Mpumalanga province.
Coal is not the solution
Commenting the utility’s crisis and the recent plan announced by the South African government to privatize it, Ahlfeldt said that he details on unbundling Eskom still need to be worked out, but it will likely level the playing field for renewable energy generators that wants to sell to the utility at competitive prices. “The future transmission system operator should prioritize least-cost generation sources rather than more expensive and environmentally non-compliant energy supplied by some of Eskom’s existing coal plants,” he said.
Ahlfeldt also stressed that he supply shortfall would be worse if it wasn’t for over 4 GW of renewable energy capacity, including around 1.6 GW of PV capacity, from 65 operational IPPs currently providing electricity to Eskom. “Eskom should do more to encourage customers to invest in distributed generation like roof-top solar PV, which both increases supply and can improve customer loyalty over the long-term as prosumers benefit from selling excess electricity into the system,” he also asserted.
The opposition of the unions
In order to gain more popularity among the workers of the energy sector, the renewable energy industry should start a dialogue with them, Alfehldt said. The Unions, in fact, are not only opposing fiercely the recent plan to privatize and unbundle Eskom into three different units, but have also struggled hard to delay the signing of 27 outstanding PPAs for large-scale renewable energy projects last year. Although the contracts were finally signed in April, the trade unions were able to delay their finalization for more than two years, even after final prices were re-negotiated. “The renewables industry has also expressed its willingness to work with labor unions to help retrofit some coal mining sites with renewable energy power plants and offer training to re-skill local workers in renewable energy jobs, so there is a lot to gain for all involved in moving the energy industry forward,” he further explained.
According to him, on the other hand, renewable technologies have already demonstrated they can create more jobs and provide more distributed benefits across the country than the traditional centralized energy sector.
Meanwhile, energy intensive mining company Harmony Gold has announced today it intends to develop a 30 MW solar power project to improve power supply, according to Reuters. “Our Eskom bill is massive. To replace Eskom would be a fallacy, we won’t be able to do that. We can however, where we have long term projects, we can start building solar plants,” Harmony CEO Peter Steenkamp said to the agency.
Also small and middle-sized businesses are currently struggling with load sheeding, as power interrumptions are seriously affecting business productivity and profit.
“Hopefully the current power crisis will lead to faster government action to reform Eskom and the energy sector as a whole,” he concluded.
Source: pv magazine
