boldly go... again

If tropical rainforests are the world's green lung, then coal deposits power its artificial heart.

In South Africa the forestry issue is a minor one in global terms, but the country's huge coal resource should generate a debate similar to the one now raging in Bali over the prevention of deforestation as a strategy to help mitigate climate change. One of the key issues in that debate is meeting local needs while contributing to the global good: establishing a politically acceptable mechanism that will improve sustainability in terms of social, economic and environmental objectives.

Forests and coal deposits are both carbon stores that should be left alone, but the temptation to use them can be irresistable.

The main driving force behind South Africa's exploitation of coal is, for now, the need for electricity to feed economic growth. I say "for now" for two reasons. Firstly because South Africa's national electricity utility, Eskom, intends to expand its nuclear power generation capacity, which will ease pressure on coal somewhat; and secondly because rising oil prices will inevitably increase the economic viability of producing oil from coal (a technology which South Africa's SASOL has developed and is exporting to other coal-rich nations).

South Africa's energy strategy seems to be focused on providing conditions suitable for other industries to grow - and produce jobs - while not seriously considering employment potential in the energy sector itself. (The new biofuels strategy is an exception, but that raises a raft of other issues that I won't explore now.) But Eskom has been caught with its pants down. While government at all levels has been pushing economic growth, and succeeded quite admirably by traditional measures, Eskom hasn't got up off the toilet seat. Result: not enough capacity region-wide, and electricity shortages expected for years to come. Eskom has no viable short-term game plan, and we're sitting in the shit hole. The only way to make up the deficit in the short term is to try something new.

Perhaps more than anywhere else, developing countries need to foster growth that is developmentally advantageous, not just a boost to traditional statistics like GDP, or even the Gini coefficient (which gives an indication of the wealth inequality between rich and poor).

The need to fight climate change provides an opportunity to do just that, but success needs leaders who are willing to step outside the box. Just as the turnaround of Curitiba's public transport system required a city mayor who was somewhat brash in his transformation agenda, other types of public infrastructure investment need someone to boldly go and take a few risks.

(Just where to find such a person is a question for which I have no answer. Ideas, anyone?)

In the area of electricity supply and demand lies an opportunity to reduce reliance on coal and forestall the expansion of South Africa's nuclear industry, while empowering communities by creating local jobs and giving them greater control over energy. I mentioned on Tuesday that the country should be doing all it can to encourage research and development and manufacture of technologies for renewable energy, and this could go hand-in-hand with a new model for electricity provision based on distributed supply.

A variety of small-scale or microgeneration technologies mixed with medium and large-scale facilities would increase the system's flexibility and adaptability, much as biodiversity increases ecological resilience. There are dozens of available technologies that can be installed immediately, unlike any large-scale power plant. And dozens of reasons why and how they can work. From a sustainable development perspective, a diversified system can meet a range of policy objectives. People could be trained to install and maintain power systems, supported by innovative financing; but jobs are only one part of the equation.

The good news for South Africa is that the legal framework is already in place for anyone to feed electricity into the national grid - we just need Eskom to stand aside and let us in.

Oh yes, and Captain Kirk.

Comments

[Ian]

Can you clarify 'the legal framework is already in place - we just need Eskom to stand aside and let us in'?

[Rory]

Ian, my understanding is that the legislation necessary to allow corporations other than Eskom to supply electricity to the national grid was put in place to allow for initiatives like the wind farm now being planned on the west coast north of Cape Town, which will be run by an independent power producer (IPP). So, theoretically, you can put a solar panel on your roof and sell excess electricity to Eskom. But Eskom is unlikely to be enthusiastic about letting you do it, and may make it so difficult that you will give up trying.

I may be wrong about Eskom's reluctance, as the CEO has publicly said they welcome IPPs (see last week's article in Engineering News). But I have not heard of anyone actually doing it, so I am not sure how easy it is in practice to jump through the hoops of getting the necessary approval.

A related issue is the pricing - given Eskom's inability to meet electricity demand now and over the coming years, I would have thought they would not only welcome anyone who wanted to provide electricty but also give them preferential rates. Andrew Kenny, quoted in the Engineering News article, claims: “No IPP can produce electricity as cheaply as Eskom, because Eskom can raise money cheaply, is happy to have long pay-back periods, and is content with a low return on assets.”

That statement is not true in every case of microgeneration. If I am contemplating installing a wind turbine atop my house, and I install energy-efficient systems so that I have excess power, the combined cost of batteries and the turbine may stop me from going ahead. If, on the other hand, I can get Eskom to help pay for the system by buying some of my power (effectively acting as my 'virtual battery'), that might be enough of an incentive to convince me to have a mixed system - part Eskom, part on-site renewable sources.

If you know of any individuals (and I stress INDIVIDUALS) who do legally sell electricity to Eskom, I would be interested to hear of them.) I'll send the question to Agama to see what they know.