power to the people

South Africa's power generation utility, Eskom, is considering building a 100MW solar generator near Upington. A feasibility study begun in 2001 recommended using central-receiver technology, which concentrates the sun's energy through multiple large mirrors, using the concentrated thermal energy to produce steam to drive a turbine for electricity generation. In 2003 the cost was estimated at R2.2 billion, twice the cost (per megawatt) of a proposed new 2250MW coal-fired station in Limpopo.

Still, South Africa faces a shortage of peak power-generating plant capacity that is likely to continue for some years. The plants that run intermittently to meet morning and evening peak period demand are far more expensive (by five or six times) per kWh than base-load coal plants that operate 24 hours a day. (Coal-fired plants produce 90% of South Africa's electricity.) Professor Thomas Harms of Stellenbosch University argues that solar plants may be able to compete cost-wise with the peak period plants.

[reported in Engineering News, August 18-24 2006]

Meanwhile, South Africa's northern neighbour, Botswana, has low-grade coal reserves and is considering whether to build a rail line to export it via the Namibian port of Walvis Bay or to use the coal to generate and export electricity to its power-hungry neighbours.

Update: In Nov 2006 Eskom was to sign an agreement with Botswana to buy electricity from a new coal-fired station.

renewable energy in southern Africa

Tongaat-Hulett currently supplies 9 MW of electricity into the South African grid, and has the potential to supply up to 120 MW of renewable energy, according to CEO Peter Staude. The South African government is aiming to produce 1870 MW from renewable resources by 2013, out of a total expected demand of 42000 MW (estimated by the Department of Minerals and Energy).

[reported in Engineering News, August 11-17 2006]

biofuels in southern Africa

The Tongaat-Hulett group, best known for sugar production in Southern Africa, believes it can produce 200 million litres of biofuel a year. It's already producing 25 million litres in Zimbabwe and some in Mozambique, and is considering South Africa and Swaziland.

South Africa currently consumes 11 billion litres of petrol and 8 billion litres of diesel a year. The Southern Africa biofuels Association (Saba) believes that the local biofuels industry has the potential to supply 10% of South Africa's petrol and diesel by 2010. In comparison, US ethanol output in 2005 was 3.5 billion gallons.

A new South African government biofuels strategy is expected to mandate a biofuels blending regime. Ethanol Africa launched South Africa's first large-scale bioethanol production plant in July this year. The company is expanding production, and is managing an emerging-farmer programme that focuses on small-scale farmers. Company CEO Johan Hoffman believes that planting maize for bioethanol is not a threat to food security. This year only 1.5 million hectares of maize was planted in South Africa, which is a third of the 4.5 hectares suitable for maize cultivation.

As ethanol is used as a replacement for imported MMT and ferrocene, fuel additives, a 10% ethanol blend can save South Africa R2 billion a year in foreign exchange. Since the emissions are also lower, bioethanol can assist South Africa to sell carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol. The country is the third-worst offender in the world concerning the per-capita production of greenhouse gas emissions.

[reported in Engineering News, August 11-17 2006]

planetary incapacity

Tony Frost of the World Wildlife Fund in South Africa believes the planet's natural capacity for absorbing CO2 was breached in the mid-1970s. Emissions in 1954 were 1.9 billion tons, and in 2004 they were 7 billion tons.

[reported in Engineering News, August 11-17 2006]

low-cost household energy

Paraffin, coal and wood are fuels commonly used in South Afrian township homes that don't have access to electricity. But they are are relatively expensive, a common cause of house fires, and a source of respiratory problems. A company called GreenHeat in Durban is manufacturing an ethanol gel from sugar cane that is better than paraffin on all three counts. (Apparently the gel costs more than paraffin, but lasts much longer.) Sold with a stove, the gel is used either for cooking or heating.

Is this the end of the smog-fuelled Joburg sunrise?