A look at South Africa's energy policies

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Jamie McKane

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A look at South Africa's energy policies

Energy and electricity policy, planning and regulation in South Africa has been slow and bureaucratic, lacking visionary leadership, and marred by uncertainty.

Policy positions and actions taken have tended to be reactive, and driven more by crisis management than by forward-looking leadership.
 
I wish there was more focus on distributed generation. SA is blessed with tons of sun and while you probably don't want your entire grid to consist of sun, SA can safely push a much higher ratio than it currently does thanks for battery tech & CSP storage
 
Deandbn said:
Does SA even have an energy policy.. Tbh should rather call it a self enrichment policy..
Click to expand...
After reading the article, it seems we don't have an energy policy.
And what we have is not being aggressively implemented to address the power crisis.
No mention of the effect on corruption and BEE policies on ability to execute.

"clean coal technologies, underground coal gasification and carbon capture and storage" is a distraction.
"green hydrogen and green ammonia" is a joke - we don't have any excess electricity, and our electricity is too expensive to do this.
 
Looking at the Medupi/Kusile builds I shudder to think what the outcome would be with a nuclear build. Flippen hope they build it on the other side of the country from me.
 
I agree with a lot in the article except the part where hydrogen is touted for transport. After decades of investment in Japan and Europe hydrogen is not coming to market. There is however good opportunity to use hydrogen in gas peaker plants.

I am positive about electricity in South Africa. The Eskom situation has forced the government to hand the problem to the private sector and they will respond. It will create jobs, be done fast and be more robust than a communist like central planning for energy.
 
Johand said:
I agree with a lot in the article except the part where hydrogen is touted for transport. After decades of investment in Japan and Europe hydrogen is not coming to market. There is however good opportunity to use hydrogen in gas peaker plants.

I am positive about electricity in South Africa. The Eskom situation has forced the government to hand the problem to the private sector and they will respond. It will create jobs, be done fast and be more robust than a communist like central planning for energy.
Click to expand...
+1
Battery storage seems to be the way to go vs Hydrogen.

In terms of handing over to private sector, ANC are very much anti-private sector.
ANC will delay privitsation as much as possible - to the detriment of the economy.
ANC think that SOE is better than private sector.
 
Encouraging private generation and making it easier to put power back into the grid should make up part of their strategy.

Ignoring the residential generation, there are big Karoo farms that could diversify their income by supplying power to the grid.
 
Nod said:
Encouraging private generation and making it easier to put power back into the grid should make up part of their strategy.

Ignoring the residential generation, there are big Karoo farms that could diversify their income by supplying power to the grid.
Click to expand...

I found this interesting;

www.dailymaverick.co.za

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: Message to Eskom: Screw You! (The sequel)

I can solve all Eskom’s problems in one sentence. This is not a brag. It’s just a fact. And it’s such an obvious fact, that I wonder why it isn’t being done. Frankly, I’m suspicious.
www.dailymaverick.co.za www.dailymaverick.co.za
 
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Reactions: Nod
Nod said:
Encouraging private generation and making it easier to put power back into the grid should make up part of their strategy.

Ignoring the residential generation, there are big Karoo farms that could diversify their income by supplying power to the grid.
Click to expand...
Yup there are shopping centers that have got their own generation sorted out, but they had to go for a sort of grid-tied solution, they can't feed back into the grid, which would help as some of those are quite a bit of possible Mw just going to waste, sure it might only be 1 or 2Mw total, but it would help out certain suburbs, as I'm pretty sure the mall itself wouldn't use all the power.
Even say big campuses like Di-data and such could have panels put up and power the area, the generators on that site are huge, I mean they are like mini power stations themselves.

www.bizcommunity.com

R16m solar farm installed at Randridge Mall

As part of its sustainability strategy, Emira Property Fund has installed a R16m solar farm on the roof of its Randridge Mall in Randpark Ridge, Johannesburg...
www.bizcommunity.com www.bizcommunity.com
This is from 2017 already, 1.27MWh solar installed on a mall roof.
Another 1Mw mall
www.esi-africa.com

Shopping mall banking on solar, while going green - ESI-Africa.com

SolarSaver has completed installation of a 1MW installation solar PV at regional shopping centre,Mtuba Mall, situated 200 kilometres north of Durban.
www.esi-africa.com www.esi-africa.com
 
Deandbn said:
Does SA even have an energy policy.. Tbh should rather call it a self enrichment policy..
Click to expand...
The energy policy says simply ignore everything the experts say & go with your gut feel..
 
I assisted with a solar system outside Montagu in 2012, similar to the report in DM. Eskom Worcester‘s attitude was not “thanks for the assistance”, instead getting their legal dept to threaten the owner as, without ever visiting the farm, decided that it was illegal since it was not attached to a grid

It was like speaking to the village idiot, some of their letters were so badly worded that you had to guess what was intended
 
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