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Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the findings of the ‘2023 South African Renewable Energy Grid Survey’, which was compiled by Eskom in collaboration with the South African Wind Energy Association and the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association and whether or not Eskom is up to the task of addressing the grid constraints identified by the survey.
A new survey of South Africa’s renewable-energy development pipeline, and its potential implications for grid planning and investment, reveals that there is currently a 66 GW pipeline of wind and solar projects in South Africa and that a number of these projects are envisaged to be coupled with battery storage. The pipeline also includes some 2 GW of gas-to-power. The ‘Renewable Energy Grid Survey’, which has been compiled by Eskom in collaboration with the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) and the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) indicates that about 18.3 GW is at an advanced stage of development.
With insufficient grid capacity having been identified as the main constraint to the public procurement of the 28 GW of new electricity capacity allowed for by 2030 under various Ministerial determinations, IPP Office head Bernard Magoro reports that several new options are being considered to unlock existing grid capacity, including accepting some level of curtailment. Addressing the South African National Energy Association’s annual general meeting, Magoro reported that a cost-benefit analysis would be undertaken into whether curtailment should be factored into to future procurement rounds so as to unlock grid capacity, while additional transmission lines and substations are developed in parallel.