It will make no difference to load-shedding in the short term, but the government’s National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom) hopes to approach the market next month to procure more than 9,000MW of generation and energy storage capacity.
A detailed assessment of the viability of delaying the decommissioning of older coal-fired power stations is also expected to be presented to the cabinet by July.
Necom secretariat head Rudi Dicks told journalists on Friday that bid window 7 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme will be opened in June. The bid window will target solar and wind energy projects that can be developed in provinces where grid capacity is available, he said.
The aim is also to develop a request for proposals for 1,200MW of battery storage and 3,000MW of gas-to-power projects by June.
Dicks also gave an update on progress made in the assessment of the decommissioning of end-of-life coal-fired power stations. Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has proposed that given SA’s electricity crisis, old coal-fired power stations should not be shut down according to the schedule previously proposed by Eskom.
“What the minister has embarked on as part of the National Treasury process is to look at how the decommissioning schedule can be revised on the basis of us requiring immediate energy,” Dicks said. “This is to make sure that plants that can continue to operate are allowed to do so.”
The state has decided that no scheduled decommissioning will occur until an assessment of end-of-life power stations has been completed, he said.
Eskom’s revised plant end of design life (decommissioning) plan that was submitted as part of the Integrated Resources Plan of 2019 that is being updated brought forward the shutdown of some units at Komati, which was shut down last year, and Hendrina power stations. According to the revised plan about 16,000MW of electricity from coal generation was scheduled to be decommissioned by 2030.
Dicks said immediate electricity supply needs and SA’s climate commitments will be considered in the process to decide if the decommissioning schedule for coal-fired power stations should be updated. A revised schedule will take into account a technical assessment of the feasibility and cost of refurbishment of each power station. This assessment is already being undertaken by a consortium of global experts commissioned by Treasury.
The assessment will also take into account the effect of extending the life of older coal power stations on SA’s decarbonisation trajectory. The assessment is expected to be completed by July, when the outcomes will be presented to cabinet for approval. Meanwhile, no units are scheduled to be decommissioned until the assessment has been completed.
The cost of refurbishing older coal-fired power stations should be compared to the cost of investing in other sources of replacement capacity, including gas and battery storage, Dicks said. SA will remain committed to its international climate and decarbonisation targets, he said, but care will be taken to ensure that the manner in which these commitments are achieved does not compromise energy security or the immediate priority of reducing load-shedding.
The phased decommissioning of Camden power station is scheduled to be completed this year, and Arnot and Hendrina by 2026.
Eskom’s recently appointed head of generation, Bheki Nxumalo, said its plans to improve the generation efficiency of its fleet to an average of 60% by March 2024 exclude power that could come from three units at Camden (each with a capacity of about 190MW) and two units at Hendrina (each with a capacity of about 195MW).
He said the units are technically safe to operate, but will require technical and outage interventions that have not been budgeted for in the financial year to end-March 2024.
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