The South African government is scrambling for short-term solutions to its ongoing energy crisis, which is now in its seventh year.
The government of President Jacob Zuma recently requested ideas for a gas-to-power program and received 170 submissions, with one for the floating generators considered to be a serious option for interim generation.
Africa's most advanced economy is struggling to keep the lights on as rolling power cuts are implemented almost daily by power utility Eskom to save the national grid from collapse.
Eskom is reportedly spending up to $215 million per month on diesel fuel to run its turbines and estimates the impact of load shedding is 2000 megawatts per day.
The government would have to buy in gas, most probably importing LNG, to generate the additional 3000 megawatts needed in the short term, boosting the nation’s capacity to 42,000MW.
The barges offer a cheap, privately owned and operated boost to the network, and could be moored at a number of South African harbours.
The vessels could also burn fuel oil if needed, and most harbours contain suitable storage already. Fuel oil would be more expensive than gas, put would be cheaper than the diesel fuel which is currently used to power South Africa’s aging open cycle gas turbines.
A similar system is in use in Lebanon, Iraq and Pakistan.
Each vessel could add 500MW and would be locked into power purchase agreements, providing baseload power.
They would also be more efficient than the existing generation fleet.
The government is expected to start tendering the gas-to-power project projects before the end of the year as it seeks to rapidly grow the grid.
The ships could be supplied within 12-18 months.
Buying in gas would allow the nation time to develop its domestic gas reserves, such as Sunbird Energy’s Ibhubesi offshore gas field, and CSG resources being examined by Sunbird and Kinetiko, and potentially examine pipeline options from Tanzania or Mozambique.
In addition to becoming a new LNG market, in which gas prices have fallen, the nation is fast-tracking renewable energy projects that will add about 1000 MW of power to its ailing grid.
Eskom expects two of its long-delayed coal-fired power plants, Medupi and Kusile, to be fully operational by 2021, adding a combined 9000 MW to the grid.
The roots of the energy crisis lie in the very structure of the South African economy. Big business uses about 85% of the energy generated and pays less than a third of the cost paid by domestic users.
The crisis was exacerbated by years of sub-standard maintenance and the South African government's inability to manage strategic resources.
State-owned power supplier Eskom started experiencing deficiency in capacity in the electrical generating and reticulation infrastructure in 2007, triggered by a failure at Koeberg nuclear power station, but a general lack of capacity due to increased demand and lack of government planning.
While the worst of the crisis was quickly dealt with the margin between national demand and available capacity is still low while new alternatives are being developed.
Eskom generates more than 95% of the country's electricity and over 40% of all electricity on the African continent making it one of the ten largest power utilities in the world.
