The National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) announcement that it had registered 98 generation facilities during the second quarter (July to September) of the 2023/24 financial year has been cautiously welcomed by experts and unions.
Nersa said on Thursday that the total capacity of the 98 generation facilities was 908 megawatts, with an investment value of R17.3 billion.
The technological composition of the 98 registered generation facilities consists of solar photovoltaic (PV), solar photovoltaic with battery energy storage system (Bess), co-generation and wind turbine. Solar PV generation technology is the most popular choice in South Africa with 71% of the total capacity and the highest number of generation facilities.
“This can be attributed to the fact that, in general, South Africa has adequate sunlight. The total investment value of solar PV generation facilities is R11.4bn. Solar PV technology is favourable because it is flexible for small-scale and large-scale generation,” said Nersa.
In terms of the installed capacity, the top three provinces were Free State, North West and Western Cape.
The breakdown of this composition includes 91 solar PV facilities expected to generate 647MW split across Gauteng (19), Western Cape (16), KwaZulu-Natal (13), North West (11), Eastern Cape (8), Northern Cape (8), Mpumalanga (7), Free State (7), and Limpopo (3).
“The uptake of the registered generation facilities is commendable. However, it is concerning that most of the registered facilities are further deepening the California duck curve as they are not coupled with storage. In this regard, it’s recommended that registration applications for generation facilities of variable energy sources be coupled with battery storage,” said regulator member responsible for Electricity Regulation, Nhlanhla Gumede.
According to Nersa, the number of generation facilities registered for commercial purposes is 7 of 98, with a capacity of 140MW and an investment cost of R1.9bn.
Since the inception of the registration regime in 2018, Nersa said it had registered a total of 1 185 generation facilities, with a capacity of 5 785MW and an investment cost of R111bn.
“Regarding the energy exported through the national grid, 68 generation facilities are connected to the Eskom network and generate a total of 785MW, with a total investment cost of R14.8bn. A total of 30 generation facilities are connected to the municipal distribution network and generate a total of 27MW, with an investment cost of R2.5bn. The average investment cost for the second quarter of the 2023/24 financial year is R19 000/kW,” Nersa said.
Energy expert Lungile Mashele said: “This is great news for the companies that applied for this, they will be able to meet their energy and net zero requirements.”
She said that a key component to these projects is that they were not grid tied and were not done through the formal Eskom process.
“So they will deliver energy as and when they want to. They are not beholden to any time frame and cannot be relied upon for energy planning purposes.
“The regulator raises an important issue regarding the worsening of the duck curve through the registration of these projects without storage. This is very important for the sustainability of Eskom and the operations of the system operator. More such projects require storage and/or flexibility through gas. Otherwise they risk system integrity and being curtailed themselves.”
Nuclear civil engineer Hugo Kruger explained that with solar, for example, not running at night without batteries, users would still add to the evening peak.
“Eskom still has to provide services. Unless they are fully off grid they are still going to rely on Eskom as free insurance when the battery runs flat, they will still be plugged into Eskom and draw from the utility,” he said.
Cape Times