It is all systems go to repower and repurpose Eskom’s Komati power station, the utility’s flagship greening project, as it seeks to impress potential investors ahead of COP26.
Though the last unit of the 60-year-old power station will only be decommissioned in a year’s time, much work is being done to breathe new life into it and the communities dependent on it, Eskom CEO André De Ruyter told delegates of a SA National Energy Association (Sanea) virtual conference on Friday.
In terms of repurposing, the site is being prepared for a small-scale pilot agrivoltaic plant — dual-use initiative where tall gantries will support solar panels while the land beneath will be used to cultivate crops.
The warehouses at Komati are also being converted to house fabrication and assembly plants for microgrids — a shipping container equipped with battery packs and solar panels — which can provide power to wherever they are transported to.
“These micro grids are very exciting,” De Ruyter said. “We already have indicative market assessments that indicate that we will have in the order of 100 of these units per annum, spread out through our own rural electrification programmes, but also for agencies such as the World Bank to provide electricity to remote areas and countries, such as Lesotho.”
He said Eskom intends to use local labour and suppliers as far as possible and is keen to work with black industrialists to establish new manufacturing capacity to help it to assemble and market these micro grids.
On repowering, Eskom will over the next 12-18 months erect a 200MW solar plant at Komati, which will be supported by 244MW of battery storage.
In parallel, the utility is also investigating how to make use of the generator sets and the turbines to repower other parts of the plant with gas.
“Komati is very well positioned to act as a proof of concept and a flagship project for the four power stations, including Grootvlei, Hendrina and Camden, which are scheduled for retirement by 2025,” De Ruyter said. “We think that we can also accelerate repowering at our other power stations. If this is enabled by the availability of sufficient funding to support accelerated decarbonisation.”
As Eskom has become increasingly incapable of supplying power to SA, it has proposed a green deal to attract funding to develop clean power projects in exchange for the accelerated decommissioning of its fleet of coal-fired power stations to assist in a rapid decarbonising of the economy.
“We believe that the signals that we get from lenders internationally, their reluctance to finance new coal, will enable us to pivot to green energy and create a competitive advantage for SA exports by avoiding imputed carbon border taxes, such as is contemplated by the EU for implementation by 2023,” De Ruyter said. “We look forward to announcements that will give additional impetus to SA’s decarbonisation plans and green energy ambitions.”
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