Renewable energy presents an opportunity to power up rural communities.
About 31% of South Africa’s population (of an estimated 57.78 million) lives in rural areas. Some households rely on fuelwood for their basic energy. Post apartheid South Africa instituted a national electrification Programme, connecting some three million households to the national grid.
The country’s electrification rate is around 66 – 92%percent in rural and 93% in urban areas.
But now the country has an opportunity to refocus and power up more rural areas, according to Dr Thembakazi Mali, Senior Vice President for research and technology at Sasol. She spoke at a session in July 2023, organized by the Global School Network (GBSN), facilitated by Dr Lwazi Ngubevana of the Wits Business School.
“Rural communities have used solar panels since the 1970s. Communities that are energy poor, in areas where the grid cannot reach should be encouraged to use solar. She also said although the SA grid is lauded for being the longest in Sub-Saharan Africa, renewable energy technologies provided an opportunity to decentralize the system.”
“A typical example are agrivoltaics for subsistence farming. Such would need to work within a suitable price within a flexible financial regulatory framework.” she said.
The Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) led by Crispen Oliver, reported a 50% chance of staying at the required 1.5 degrees by 2030, Lebogang Mulaisi, who represents Cosatu at the PCC’s net zero pathways, said skills development is an immediate priority in the Just Transition, especially for communities affected mostly by the process.
An industry – wide survey conducted by the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) and the South African wind energy association (SAWEA), indicated 93, 357 Megawatts of renewable energy are ready, exceeding a target of 66,507. The survey which consulted 242 sector organizations, also show progress in rural areas where there is ample space for both solar and wind energy, but, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are lagging behind in the construction of such projects. It is not clear how many communities are benefitting from such projects, although some companies do supply nearby communities via corporate social initiatives.
But now 50% of renewable energy projects in South Africa, are reportedly unable to cope with tariff pricing. This has resulted in only half the projects announced at bid window 5, able to supply energy to the grid.
The world’s biggest solar projects are reportedly also buckling under pressure, the Japan Times (23 July 2023), due to unsatisfactory economic factors. Orsted from Denmark could not provide offshore wind as planned, due to climbing costs. Vatenfall AB, from Sweden, could not continue with plans in Britain due to inflation.
According to the Moore Intelligence Report, the renewable energy market in Africa is expected to grow by more than 8% during the forecast period of 2022-2027. Factors such as supportive government policies, the increasing power demand, and efforts to electrify most of the population in the countries are expected to drive the renewable energy market growth in Africa. However, the dependency on fossil fuels such as coal for power generation is expected to restrain the market growth during the forecast period.
Large players in the renewable sector in Africa are Juwi, EDF renewables, Vestas, Enel green power, Academic Power and others.
5 interesting projects in rural areas
1.Mkhuze biomass plant.
The project is expected to begin construction in 2025, and to generate 132,000MWh electricity and supply enough clean energy to power 40,000 households.
Agricultural by-product and wood by-product will be use to generate power.
The process of combustion is used to release the stored energy from the feed.
2. De Aar project
The De Aar project in the Northern Cape is the largest solar farm in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The highest potential generating capacity of this photovoltaic (PV) solar project is 175MW.
3. Solar power stations
These are located at Linde in the Northern Cape and Dreunberg in the Eastern Cape, both regions are exposed to the sun and have some of the best conditions for solar power in the world. Altogether, the 3 plants provide power for around 90,000 South African households.
Largest solar project in South Africa
South Africa’s largest solar power plant is the Solar Capital De Aar Project in the Northern Cape. The photovoltaic (PV) facility has an installed generating capacity of 175MW, enough to provide electricity to roughly 75,000 homes per year. It consists of more than half a million PV modules covering 473 hectares.
4. Zeerust Solar project
Zeerust Solar is one of South Africa’s newest solar projects, helping to put the North West Province firmly on the country’s clean power map.
With over 250 000 solar modules harnessing the intense power of the sun, this 75MW solar project supplies South Africa with 180 000 MWh/year of much-needed green energy and benefits the local communities of the Ramotshere Moiloa area, through its programmes.
5. The baby turtle
The South African National Energy Development Institute (Sanedi), the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and community empowerment solar photovoltaic (PV) product developer SolarTurtle have signed a contract to develop the next-generation SolarTurtle solar energy kiosk, called the BabyTurtle.
Financial implications
A study by Edson Meyer and Ochuku Overen in 2021, found a struggling rural off-grid initiative in South Africa, needs at least USD 500 million to achieve universal access by 2025. The study concluded that the conventional electrification rate of 5 to 10% annual is not sufficient for the country to accomplish universal grid access by 2030.
Picture: FRES
Article was written by Nandi Mgwadlamba.