The South African government will be commissioning a nuclear build in the next 10 years in a bid to secure additional energy capacity to the grid on the back of the ongoing electricity deficit and rising demand.
This comes as the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has given the government the green light to procure an additional 2 500 megawatts of new generation capacity from nuclear sources to counter the rolling blackouts that have plagued the country.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa yesterday said the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) had to satisfy a raft of rigorous Nersa suspensive conditions, which take into account various factors before the go-ahead could be issued.
Ramokgopa said the DMRE submitted a report to Nersa addressing suspensive conditions in July.
However, the energy regulator still had an obligation to satisfy itself if the response from the department to the suspensive conditions were sufficient for it to consider giving this process the green light.
Nuclear energy forms part of the Integrated Resource Plan 2019’s future envisaged energy mix for South Africa.
The ministerial determination for the procurement of 2 500MW of new generation capacity from nuclear and Nersa’s concurrence is expected to be gazetted soon.
“I am happy to indicate that Nersa considered the DMRE submission and concluded that the suspensive conditions had been satisfactorily addressed," Ramokgopa said.
“We are triggering now essentially a procurement process. We are going out to ensure that we are able to get that additional 2 500MW of nuclear capacity to ensure that we are able to meet issues of national security and energy sovereignty.”
According to the Department of Energy deputy director-general for nuclear, Zizamele Mbambo, the first unit of the new 2 500MW nuclear project was expected to be commissioned by 2032/2033.
Ramokgopa said this marked the start of the procurement process, which he described as a “significant milestone” as it was previously mired in controversy when South Africa tried to procure 9 600MW of nuclear.
South Africa currently has one nuclear power station, Koeberg, which has two units each producing 980MW and is located in the Western Cape.
Ramokgopa said the country was making this move because “generation can’t meet demand”, and the DMRE was looking to release requests for proposals for nuclear by March 2024.
The government has said on numerous occasions that Eskom had a 6 000MW electricity deficit as it continues to implement intensified rotational power outages of up to 12 hours a day due to the breakdown of its coal-fired fleet.
South Africa only generates about 6% of its electricity from nuclear energy generated at the Koeberg power station, which is nearing its end of life of 40 years.
“Eskom’s fleet is ageing and we need additional generation capacity. Nuclear gives us a significant and important platform for us to be able to ensure that we are able to secure a energy future for ourselves, energy sovereignty for ourselves,” Ramokgopa said.
“Of course, we continue to make every effort to address load shedding because the benefit of what we are announcing, you are not going to see it tomorrow.
“But in the meantime, it’s important that we address the challenges with regards to the immediate problem of load shedding, whilst we secure the energy future, we don’t run into the same problem again in the future, and nuclear has proven to be a reliable source of energy.”
BUSINESS REPORT