South Africa, which has 95% of Africa’s coal reserves, is investing heavily in renewables to counter significant power deficits, but Eskom’s ageing grid isn’t making it easy to feed more electricity into the system.
KfW's senior energy and climate project manager Ihno Baumfalk told Reuters on the sidelines of the South African International Renewable Energy Conference in Cape Town that South Africa “lacks transmission infrastructure which is needed to enable the country to meet its target”
“At present you need to do grid strengthening in order to accommodate the additional energy generation which is being put into the grid," he said.
He said $3 billion of the $15 billion South Africa needed to upgrade its transmission infrastructure should be earmarked for infrastructure to connect renewable projects.
While environmental groups continue to target the industry for air, land, and water pollution, the US Energy Information Administration expects coal consumption in South Africa to continue to increase as new coal-fired power stations are scheduled to come online to meet rising demand for electricity.
South Africa exports more than 25% of its coal production. Most of South Africa's coal exports are sent to Asia, with India being the largest recipient.
South Africa imports natural gas from Mozambique via pipeline to supply Sasol's Secunda CTL plant and to fuel some gas-fired power plants. South Africa produces a small volume of natural gas offshore, and it is mainly used to supply the Mossel Bay GTL plant.
