The Western Power Corridor could still be revived with committed political leadership, Reuel Khoza said on Monday.
The corridor was a cooperative agreement among five Southern African countries established in 2003 to develop the Inga 3 hydropower project and associated infrastructure.
Khoza, a former Eskom chairman, is now involved in renewable power projects.
One of the speakers on a ministerial panel on increasing regional energy trade and co-operation at the Africa Energy Indaba starting on Tuesday, he is chairman of Aka Capital and independent power producer Globeleq as well as the author of several books on governance and leadership.
The corridor involved SA, Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia, each of which was represented equally by its utilities in Westcor, a joint venture company. Westcor conducted feasibility studies into Inga 3, which would have provided about 5,000MG of power. Westcor also aimed to develop the 45,000MW Grand Inga project.
In 2009, the Congo pulled out of the alliance, saying it intended to proceed with Inga 3 on its own. The project has been under discussion ever since.
The World Bank said in July 2016 it had suspended its $73.1m funding for Inga 3 due to disagreements over "strategic direction". The status of the project is now uncertain.
Khoza said Eskom did much work on regional power integration and the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The SAPP’s feasibility was demonstrated in the co-operation between Mozambique, SA and Swaziland in supplying power to the Mozal aluminium smelter in Mozambique and in co-operation between the Congo, Zimbabwe and SA on the Inga 1 hydropower project.
In Southern Africa the energy entities are state utilities, not private-sector generation and distribution companies, so everything revolves around co-operation among governments
— Reuel Khoza
"Regional integration is possible with the necessary political vision and will," Khoza said. "In Southern Africa the energy entities are state utilities, not private-sector generation and distribution companies, so everything revolves around co-operation among governments."
Khoza said the future growth and integration of power in Southern African depended on involving the private sector and using cheaper and more environmentally sustainable energy sources than coal, such as solar, hydropower and gas.
He said he could see little merit in the South African government’s plan to add 9,600MW of nuclear energy to the mix because of its high capital cost and the costs of disposing of nuclear waste.
Other countries’ experience had shown the final costs of nuclear power escalated to unaffordable levels, well beyond the initial costs quoted by vendors in the bidding rounds.
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