Western Cape Business 2018 edition

OVERVIEW Energy

OVERVIEW Energy Renewable energy and nuclear power are in the mix. The Western Cape hosts the country’s only nuclear power station at Koeberg, north of Cape Town, and it has a pumped water storage plant and three open-cycle gas turbines. In October 2017 a site just north of Koeberg was approved by the National Department of Environmental Affairs as the site for a new plant. The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA), the state body that oversees research and development of the sector, welcomed the decision after a variety of places in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape were listed as potential sites for several years. The decision to actually go ahead and build the plant has not yet been taken, but it seems that the South African government is determined that a new plant should be built. There is considerable opposition to this drive, not least because of the expected cost of the project. The energy landscape of the Western Cape is undergoing rapid change. The potential of renewable energy is being realised and there is a strong lobby to build a gas-to-energy plant in the province. One of the Cape’s prime tourism sites has installed a solar-powered microgrid. Robben Island is a perfect example of where a stand-alone power source can be used very effectively. Solar photovoltaic panels will produce about half of the power needs of the island, which include a working harbour and a desalination plant. Lithium-ion batteries will store energy. The system was set up by Sola Future Energy and ABB and paid for by the National Department of Tourism. SECTOR INSIGHT The sun is set to power Robben Island. The City of Cape Town wants to generate 20% of its electricity from renewable resources by 2020. To achieve this goal, the city in 2017 took the National Department of Energy to court in a bid to allow the city to buy electricity directly from independent power producers. The city argues that it has been waiting too long for a response from the department on this issue. There have been long delays in the signing of national power purchase agreements (PPAs) with independent power producers. According to the South African Renewable Energy Council (SAREC), signing the outstanding PPAs will unlock R58-billion in investor value. There were high hopes that the deals would be signed in October 2017, but then a new minister of energy was appointed. Since the start of the national Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) nearly R200-billion has been attracted to the creation of new energy sources in South Africa. WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018 90

OVERVIEW The West Coast was the site of two of the country’s first experimental wind farms. By the time the fourth bid window of the REIPPPP closed in 2015, the Western Cape had been allocated 11 projects, six wind and five photo-voltaic solar power. The total capacity of these projects totalled 592MW. Among the foreign companies to engage in renewable energy projects in the province are Gamesa and Acciona, Gestamp Renewables, Vestas, Sunpower and JinkoSolar. The Provincial Government of the Western Cape is prioritising energy in its plans, and this includes generation (gas, biogas and renewables), distribution and energy-saving. The key points of the provincial energy plan are: • efficiency in the system • move faster on renewable energy • move to gas. Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde notes that the Department of Agriculture, simply by carefully recording its usage patterns, has cut its electricity bill by R1.7-million. The National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC-SA) promotes energy and water management systems and standards. The NCPC’s Industrial Energy Efficiency Project saved more than R1.7-billion in energy costs between 2010 and 2015. The Western Cape is lobbying hard for the National Department of Energy to allow Saldanha Bay to be a site for a gas-to-power plant. The site has existing bulk power consumers like ArcelorMittal Steel. If a gas plant is built at Saldanha, then it could be a catalyst for the use of gas in many other sectors such as manufacturing and residential. A pilot plant to investigate one of the more sophisticated aspects of solar technology is under way at the Techno Park in Stellenbosch. Photovoltaic Technology Intellectual Property (PTiP) and German engineering company Singulus Technologies have started making thin-film solar modules. Funding for the project’s infrastructure came from the Technology Innovation Agency, a unit of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), and Stellenbosch University. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Energy Institute is a leader in research in the field of electricity, and is also responsible for a regional publication relating to domestic use, DUE. The South African Renewable Technology Centre (SARETEC) on the Bellville campus of CPUT offers courses such as Wind Turbine Service Technician and Solar Photovoltaic Service Technician and various short courses such as Bolting Joint Technology. The Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies is at the University of Stellenbosch and the University of Cape Town has the Energy Research Centre. The University of the Western Cape is doing research on the possibilities of hydrogen as an energy source. ONLINE RESOURCES Green Cape: www.greencape.co.za National Department of Energy: www.energy.gov.za National Nuclear Regulator: www.nnr.co.za South African Photovoltaic Industry Association: www.sapvia.co.za South African Renewable Energy Council: www.sarec.org.za South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre: www.saretec.org.za South African Wind Energy Association: www.sawea.org.za Transnet Pipelines: www.transnet.net 91 WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2018