Global energy heading towards renewables
According to a report by the International Energy Agency
(IEA), 66% of the global energy market will be in renewables
by 2040, driving an urgent race to diversify in 2019.
By 2040, the equivalent of a whole new China and India will
have been added to the planet’s global energy demand — a
30% increase on today. According to the IEA, renewables will
meet 40% of the planet’s energy demands.
Diversification, starting now, is key to seizing the opportunities
that come with renewables. For proactive consumers,
diversification means more options over which energy they use,
how much they pay for it, and even how they can store and sell
it back. For energy and utility companies, it also means more
complexity. And the urgent need for accessible data throughout.
Traditional major energy providers and even heavy industries
will all be racing to adapt to the rise of renewables. The report
also mentioned that by 2023, 75% of utilities assets will be
digitally connected. b
A report by the IEA predicts that 66% of the global energy market
will be in renewables.
Regional power integration and energy security
Eskom’s challenges of not being able to meet power supply demands
have had serious ramifications for the South African economy, as
well as the surrounding SADC region, and has emerged as an urgent
power crisis threatening the livelihoods of millions of citizens in
Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Lesotho, and
Swaziland — all countries that rely on electricity supplied by Eskom.
Eskom, in contrast, only imports power from the 1 920MW
Cahora Bassa hydroelectric generation station, in Mozambique,
which recently suffered its own set of failures owing to the Idai
tropical cyclone that ravaged the country in early March.
Regional power integration has been an objective of the SADC
nations since the formation of the Southern African Power
Pool (SAPP) in August 1995. Closer relationships and regional
integration have been championed by SADC members to enable
cooperation among neighbouring countries to secure low-cost,
reliable power. In South Africa, the government has authorised a
determination aimed at purchasing 3 750MW of coal-generated
baseload electricity sources outside the country’s borders. The purpose
of the Cross-Border Determination is to ensure energy security for
South Africa and to facilitate the construction of the transmission
interconnectors between South Africa and its neighbours.
42 AFRICAN MINING MAY - JUNE 2019
Zambia, Mozambique, and the DRC have plans to produce
over 25 000MW of baseload power from hydroelectric facilities,
which through this determination, will be able to supply
Eskom and South Africa. While hydroelectric power is an
essential part of South Africa’s planned energy mix and clean
energy future, there is, unfortunately, no hydro potential in the
country. This means that South Africa is reliant on imported
hydropower. The cross-border programme would facilitate
the transmission interconnections needed for South Africa to
import hydroelectric power.
The ZIZABONA line will allow the export or import of
more power, and trade in energy between the four countries
of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia. ZIZABONA
will create a new Western Transmission Corridor in the
southern African grid, which is identified as a priority project
by the SAPP. In addition to reducing transmission losses
and increasing reliability, ZIZABONA will serve to ease
congestion on the north–south transmission corridor through
Zimbabwe to South Africa as well as on the north–south
corridor in South Africa between the Matimba Power Station
and Cape Town. b
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