Electricity supply in SA is moving away from reliance on Eskom's Mpumalanga coal-fired power stations towards wind and solar farms in remote areas. Eventually, even households with rooftop solar panels should be able to sell their surplus power to the grid.
This requires a fundamental change in the configuration of SA's power transmission network, but this is one of the most neglected areas in the power system, according to an Institute of Security Studies report, "Gridlocked - a long term look at SA's electricity sector" released on Tuesday, 15 September.
Institute researcher Steve Hedden said in the report the Department of Energy's current licensing of renewable energy producers together with plans to procure renewable energy, gas and coal from various sources should add about 20GW of power.
The 2013 update to the Integrated Resource Plan also suggested that small scale electricity generation (mainly households with solar photovoltaic panels) could add another 30GW by 2050. Generation of electricity by households would affect municipal revenues.
Although Eskom linked the first renewable projects to the grid, it has said subsequently it was becoming more difficult and expensive to integrate independent power producers (IPPs), whether renewable or otherwise.
Electricity in future would no longer flow in one direction, from Eskom's power plants to the major urban areas, but potentially could flow in several directions, Hedden said. The timing of supply would also fluctuate, for example wind and solar power generation depends on natural conditions. To ensure the stability of the grid, its frequency had to be maintained at 50 Herz at all times.
All this made it necessary to have a systems operator to coordinate supply and demand, Hedden said. There also needed to be policies and regulations to enable municipalities to reap the benefits and distribute the rewards of decentralised electricity generation.
Hedden said SA faced three possible scenarios. The first was where Eskom remained in charge of the electricity grid and much of the generation capacity and there was no coordination between grid and energy planning. It would not unlock the potential in the system. The second scenario was one where investments were made in the grid, but on an ad-hoc, not a planned basis. It would result in more efficient generation and transmission, cheaper electricity but also more demand.
The third scenario was one where one of integrated energy and grid planning, unlocking small scale generation and distributing the benefits amongst all citizens. Hedden said this was not about efficiency, it was about improving planning, making operations more flexible and being more accountable.
Source: BDpro
