The Civil Engineering Contractor February 2019 | Page 40

BUSINESS INTEL
Three plans were prepared
by consultants to deliver
the same amount of power:
the installed capacity
in Plan C (the approved
option) is 130GW, 3GW
higher than B and 14GW
lower than A. The overall
cost of C is USD259-billion,
only USD5-billion higher
than B but USD36-billion
(or 12%) lower than the
Peter Robinson, director: Africa
Region at Economic Consulting
Associates and team leader of
the consultants to the SAPP.
investment costs, plus a small saving
in operational costs, leading to overall
savings of USD41-billion (14% of the
total costs of Component A).
“Component
C
introduces
restrictions which makes it a more
‘realistic’ approach to regional
integration: installed capacity has
to be equal or above maximum
demand by 2040, and large thermal
plants are required to operate at
or above minimum capacity factors.
In comparing Components B and
C, what is significant is that the
realism restrictions do not make C
much more expensive than B. In
relation to the Benchmark Case, the
Realistic Integration Case delivers
almost the same cost savings as the
Full Integration Case, while being
much more acceptable as a basis for
national planning.”
Any savings are welcome
The context of savings on power
installed capacity is that the National
Development Plan (NDP) states that
“to achieve sustainable and inclusive
growth by 2030, South Africa needs
to invest in a strong network of
38 | CEC February 2019
total cost of A.
economic infrastructure”. We are now
11 years away from the targets set for
2030, so now is the time to take stock
of investments to date, current and
planned infrastructure projects.
The need for infrastructure
investment and development has not
gone away. In fact, it is more urgent
than even when the NDP was drafted
— built projects are vital levers
which should be used to drive growth
within the economy. Notwithstanding
the country’s current economic
climate, southern Africa still offers
immense opportunity for investment
and infrastructure development.
What is needed, however, is a change
in focus to leverage on opportunities
that will show immediate economic
contributions in the short term,
without
compromising
their
adaptability to incorporate new
technologies. In this way, South Africa
could effectively future-proof its
infrastructure networks and ensure
an attainable long-term vision of
sustainable and inclusive growth.
A total of USD106.6-million was
exchanged among market players in
2017/18, compared to USD75.8-
million exchanged in 2016/17. Only
34% of the available electricity was
traded between the SAPP’s member
states during 2016, this owing to the
lack of transmission and distribution
capacity in the region. The total
electricity traded in the SADC region
during 2016 was one million MW
(worth USD76-million) out of a
possible 2.8 million MW.
Major transmission
projects
Transmission studies for all three
plans assume that all country-internal
projects necessary to integrate new
generation projects are committed
and therefore the focus is on
identifying required interconnectors
and their transfer limits. Transfer
limits are conservatively set at peak
demand. In the Benchmark Case, new
interconnectors were limited to three:
• Zimbabwe-South Africa portion
of Mozisa
• 
Zimbabwe-Zambia portion of
Zizabona
• Zambia-Tanzania interconnection
from Kabwe to Mbeya.
The focus of the study in the
benchmark case was therefore
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