Page 45 - Energize November 2021

VIEWS AND OPINION

A promising solution to our energy shortfall

Information from Scatec legislative framework.
“It’s a path towards the circular
heeling – the process of economy principles of carbon-neutrality,
moving privately generated a goal which some South African
Wpower to customers across metropoles have committed to achieving
national utility-owned power-grids – is by 2050,” he says.
gaining some traction in South Africa’s Wheeling agreements are
increasingly liberalised power market. generally subject to certain specialised
Against the backdrop of Eskom’s transmission tariffs, or wheeling charges,
gradual unbundling of power generation, where a portion of the payments for
transmission and distribution, and a power to the IPP are instead paid
surge in the uptake of renewable energy, to the owners of the transmission
wheeling is increasingly being viewed infrastructure (in this case the state
as a feasible, scalable solution to the utility, Eskom, but transmission could Jan Fourie
energy shortfalls in South Africa. also be privatised in future as part of the
Locally, the privatisation of power national unbundling strategy).
generation and the rise of Independent “Where previously we’ve seen renewable power generation facilities,
Power Producers (IPPs) is being driven net metering (where private power taking advantage of group-purchasing
by market forces like the pricing of producers sell power to the state utility, efficiencies and economies of scale.
renewables (especially lithium-ion adding their generation capacity to the “Independently produced power builds
battery storage components), which is national energy grid) we’re now seeing companies’ resilience by guarding against
now low enough to make large-scale the emergence of power wheeling load shedding and allowing them to plan
renewables-based projects cost- in SA, which, in conjunction with the more effectively around ongoing operating
competitive with fossil-fuel based- recent MW threshold amendments, has and energy costs”, Fourie comments.
ones, and therefore a highly attractive potential to open up whole new markets The Municipal Energy Resilience
investment proposition. within the energy sector”, says Fourie. (MER) Initiative is another promising
These market shifts are also Wheeling has thus far been development facilitating energy security,
shaped by macro-economic strategy successfully used in projects like the wheeling and the liberalisation of the
policies like REIPPPP (the Renewable Darling Wind Farm and the Bio2Watt energy supply.
Energy Independent Power Producers biomass plant which supplies power to Steered by the Department of
Procurement Programme, the RMIPPPP BMW’s Rosslyn plant. Economic Development and Tourism’s
(the Risk Mitigation Independent Fourie adds that wheeling will Energy Directorate, in conjunction
Power Producers Procurement essentially allow privately generated with Department of Local Government
Programme) as well as the recent power to be transmitted across the and Provincial Treasury, the 3-year
amendment to Schedule 2 of SA’s national grid to customers who want it, MER project aims to bolster economic
Electricity Regulation Act, that raises in a willing-buyer willing-seller model. resilience and energy security by
the threshold for non-Nersa licensed This will facilitate renewables- supporting, developing and building
self- or distributed-generation power based energy transmission from sites capacity for renewable energy projects in
plants from 1 to 100 MW. with good wind and solar radiation to the Western Cape.
Energy sector specialist and General corporate, industrial, residential and “The initiative is aligned with global
Manager at Scatec, a renewables firm civic customers whose locations may Covid-19 economic recovery trends that
and winner of a recent RMIPPP bid be less conducive to renewable energy prioritise an accelerated push towards
to supply Eskom with a baseload of production. sustainability and decarbonisation. It
150 MW of electricity, produced at He explains that larger plants could also represents a step towards our Paris
flagship solar arrays in the Northern conceivably provide power to numerous Agreement greenhouse gas emissions
Cape, Jan Fourie, explains that wheeling clients across the grid simultaneously, reduction commitments and safeguards
is common practice globally, and and conversely, disparate institutions the Western Cape’s export industry
several municipalities in the country and interest groups can band together against the imminent carbon border
have already established an enabling to invest in large-scale off-site adjustments”, Fourie adds.

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