The R1.6-million investment feeds into Coca-Cola’s internal grid, supplementing its power requirements with solar energy and significantly reducing its reliance [...]]]> Cable connections expert Lapp Group Southern Africa’s renewable energy division has completed a 30 kW solar photovoltaic (PV) installation at Coca-Cola South Africa’s new Valpré spring water plant in Heidelberg.

The R1.6-million investment feeds into Coca-Cola’s internal grid, supplementing its power requirements with solar energy and significantly reducing its reliance on the national grid. In addition to saving energy and money on electricity costs, carbon dioxide savings will be achieved, resulting in a lower environmental impact.

The PV plant design consists of 132 230 W IBC grid-type solar modules, two SMA 15 000 TL tri-power inverters, and a web box for monitoring the performances of the PV plant.

Lapp Group Southern Africa is the sole representative distributing the German manufactured IBC solar panels in South Africa, and provides engineering advice, product specification, installation and training for stand alone PV and wind turbine applications, as well as back-up and alternative power solutions for small holdings to large commercial buildings.

Provisions have been made to increase the capacity at the Valpré plant to 90 kW.

Lapp Group Southern Africa’s renewable energy division director Dieter Dilchert explains that the Lapp Group Southern Africa and SAR SA engineers installed the 132 solar modules in less than five hours.

This, Dilchert adds, was possible thanks to a new mounting structure from Terafix. Instead of spending hours using inner and outer brackets to mount the PV panels individually, installers simply slide up to three panels into a groove and fasten the panels with end stops. This saves time and makes the installation less vulnerable to theft.

The new Valpré plant is currently undergoing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Leed) certification. Leed is an internationally recognised programme for benchmarking design, construction and operation of green buildings.

Leed green building accreditation is based on a point system, and to achieve this status companies need at least 100 points. Project engineers have to provide all energy saving measures used in the construction of the ‘green’ building, such as double glazing, specialized roof insulation, energy efficient lighting, light sensors and solar water heating. In the case of the Valpré plant, eight points were awarded for the PV installation.

Valpré’s new plant and new ‘green’ bottle are said to advance the bottling industry’s ‘green’ strategy. “With the new Heidelberg plant, Valpré will reduce its carbon footprint, lower its water usage ratio, and adopt energy efficiency lighting and production technologies,” says South African National Bottled Water Association executive director, Charlotte Metcalf.

Lapp explains that a usual PV solution would feed into the system with a battery backup, however, because the client already had a backup system in the form of two 1 250 kW generators, no battery system was required.

Other Lapp installations include the Lapp Group building in Gauteng, which has been equipped with PV solar and a wind turbine to serve as backup to its electronics equipment in the event of load shedding and power outages.

Standalone applications with a combination of wind and PV solar have also been installed on various farms in South Africa.

A successful installation of PV panels at the Equinox shopping mall in Jeffreys Bay has also delivered efficient and consistent energy supply to feed the lighting in the shopping mall, adds the company.

A major installation is currently being undertaken at the new offices of one of South Africa’s top four banking institutions, where IBC’s solar panels and inverters have been specified for their efficiency levels and quality output.

Source: www.engineeringnews.co.za

Africa’s biggest economy has been struggling to meet fast-rising [...]]]> JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa is confident that a recently launched bidding process for renewable energy will lead to the addition of 3,725 megawatts (MW)of green energy to the national grid by 2016, despite previous delays, a senior government official said.

Africa’s biggest economy has been struggling to meet fast-rising demand for electricity in the world’s top producer of platinum. A power supply crisis in 2008 shut mines down for days and cost the country billions of dollars in lost output.

South Africa has also been under pressure to reduce its carbon footprint, with more than 90 percent of its power currently supplied by coal-fired plants.

But the process of adding more renewable power to the grid has dragged on for years, raising doubts about the government’s ability to deliver on this front.

A plan to attract independent producers of renewable energy with subsidised tariffs was scrapped in the face of legal challenges, and regulatory hurdles have also been in the way.

Under the new procurement plan, which does not include subsidies, some 320 developers from South Africa, Europe, North America and Asia have expressed interest to date, and the government is confident the ambitious plan will now succeed.

“We see the process is still on track. As much as we have seen who is bidding and how much work needs to be done, we are convinced that this will be done on time,” said Nelisiwe Magubane, the director general at the department of energy on Wednesday.

The 3,725 MW would be added to an existing national supply of around 41,000 megawatts.

More than 800 participants crammed into a conference hall on Wednesday to get more information about the rigorous tender process, which was launched in August.

Developers have up to November 4 to submit their bids. The preferred bidders will be announced during the global climate change conference held in South Africa in November/December.

Magubane said the bid papers were drafted with the help of external consultants to ensure they were financially sound.

“Most lenders have said … that this is something they can lend money for,” she said.

“We’ve no experience of procurement of this magnitude and need to make sure that there is adequate skill and that the process is infallible.”

South African state-owned power utility Eskom , which so far has held a monopoly on power generation in the country, will provide successful bidders access to the grid and will be the counterparty for power purchase deals until a planned independent authority has been established.

South Africa expects nuclear and renewable energy to play a more crucial role in plugging its power supply deficit as it seeks to halve its reliance on dirtier coal-fired plants.

According to a new energy masterplan, South Africa plans to develop 9,600 MW of nuclear power and 17,800 MW of renewable power between now and 2030.

The pilot plants, each of one hectare, would be located on greenfield sites adjacent to the Lethabo and Kendal coal-fired power [...]]]> Power and automation technology group ABB on Monday announced that it would construct two solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants for electricity utility Eskom, which would be completed by November.

The pilot plants, each of one hectare, would be located on greenfield sites adjacent to the Lethabo and Kendal coal-fired power stations and would be the first of their kind built in the country.

At the Kendal power station, in Mpumalanga, ABB would provide a fixed tilt solar PV power plant with a station capacity of 620 kW and production potential of 11.4-million kWh a year.

At the Lethabo site, in the Free State, the installation would comprise a single-axis tracking solar PV power plant with a peaking capacity of 575 kW and a production potential of 12.4-million kWh a year.

The PV plants would be designed to operate independently to produce electrical power for use by the existing power stations and would be capable of remote operation and monitoring.

“These orders will afford ABB in South Africa the opportunity for transfer of skills in solar technology which will complement and further enhance the local capabilities in engineering and project management,” said ABB South Africa country manager Carlos Pone.

The projects were being fast tracked for completion by November, prior to the seventeenth Conference of Parties on climate change to be held in Durban later in the year.

ABB said that it had a wide offering of products, systems and service solutions for the solar sector and has executed a number of turnkey PV projects around the world.

The company also recently invested in Novatec Solar, a leading provider of Linear Fresnel concentrated solar power technology, which uses flat mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy onto a receiver to produce steam.

www.engineeringnews.co.za

“As for nuclear energy as being our answer to whatever Eskom thinks it will be, that’s not entirely true. If Eskom is concerned with electricity security, energy [...]]]> Cape Town – Environmental groups have slammed the government’s decision to build nuclear plants, saying it will not lead to energy security for South Africa.

“As for nuclear energy as being our answer to whatever Eskom thinks it will be, that’s not entirely true. If Eskom is concerned with electricity security, energy security and safe electricity supply, nuclear is not going to be able to provide that,” Ferial Adams of Greenpeace Africa told News24.

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters announced on Thursday that the building process to build new nuclear plants which would produce 9 600MW, would begin by 2012.

“If you look at Finland and France which is the model South Africa wants to use, there have been so many delays. Each delay costs them about a billion euros a year.

“So in terms of a safe energy supply, by the time we get nuclear it won’t be the right thing. Given the time constrains, it just makes sense to then now [to] invest in renewable energy,” said Adams.

Base load energy

SA experienced rolling blackouts in 2008 when Eskom had trouble meeting demand and there have been suggestions that the country would need to build coal-fired power stations to provide base load energy demands.

Eskom suggested that nuclear power was required to account for base load energy supply. This is defined as the minimum amount of energy a utility must supply to meet demand.

“The fact of the matter is that nuclear power is neither cheap, nor quick, nor safe. Even if nuclear one was approved tomorrow, it would take about 12 years before it came online, so it would hardly be relevant to the so-called current electricity crisis,” said Muna Lakhani, Cape Town branch co-ordinator for Earthlife Africa

As SA prepares to host the COP 17 climate conference where activists expect a commitment to reducing pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, utilities have said that nuclear power was better able to cope with expanding energy demand, while reducing atmospheric emissions.

But Greenpeace said that the reliance on base load was flawed and that nuclear plants around the world were subject to delays because of safety and regulatory requirements.

“Big utilities around the world have been punting the issue of base load, and saying that we need base load that’s why we can’t move away from things, and then saying that nuclear is the answer to that.

“Base load is not the most sustainable way of us using our energy. We actually lose a lot of our energy supply and Greenpeace has come out with our Energy Revolution, where we show that actually, you don’t really need base load for our electricity supply to work,” said Adams.

Renewable energy

She said that SA needed to diversify its energy mix to create the best possible reliability.

“There’s a lot of old school in [the way] we’re doing things as South Africa. We’re saying that decentralised energy supply makes more sense.

“So even if you have a problem in one area, you’re not cutting out many parts of the grid or almost half the country like happened in 2008.

“It also allows for the diversification of your energy supply. When you’re dependant of one type of energy supply or like we are in South Africa, 95% comes from coal, then you’re kind of dependant on specific sources.”

Greenpeace said that SA should have a more focused approach to renewable energy in order to move the country away from fossil fuels.

“Of course we’re not going to say tomorrow we must shut down all the coal-fired power stations, but we’re saying there must be a just transition to get to a point where we can be more dependent on renewable energy,” said Adams.

Consumption

Lakhani said that the South African economy was in need of reform so that industries that used a greater portion of the electricity consumption were limited.

“We have a situation where one company, BHB Billiton, uses 10% of the electricity. That’s an awful lot when you consider all 50 million of us use only 18% and they create a few thousand jobs.

“So I don’t see the economic or social or environmental value of having business like that. So we need to change the way the economy works.”

Source: News24

“This express service will provide new avenues of opportunity for our people who have been let down by the lack of capacity in passenger rail services,” De Lille [...]]]> The City of Cape Town is planning several MyCiti bus services between Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha and the city centre, mayor Patricia De Lille said on Thursday.

“This express service will provide new avenues of opportunity for our people who have been let down by the lack of capacity in passenger rail services,” De Lille said in a speech to the Cape Town city council.

“In addition, new services are also planned for transport corridors between the metro south east and the southern, northern and west coast suburbs, where passenger demands are high but rail service does not exist.”

The city had been criticised by the Cosatu and the ANC for neglecting the poor in its transport plans, which have so far focused on wealthier areas.

De Lille said the service would be rolled out by December 2013.

She said the city would continue its engagements with rail services “to improve conditions”.

The mayoral committee had also recommended that the city support the proposed process for the establishment of a “green technology manufacturing cluster” on city-owned land in the Atlantis industrial area.

“It is well known that Atlantis has been especially hard hit in these tough economic times,” De Lille said.

“The changes in world markets, coupled with changes in economic drivers in South Africa and a lack of connections, has left the area in a particularly vulnerable state. We would seek to aid investment in the area.”

The department of energy has approved power purchase agreements that will lead to the establishment of a number of renewable energy power plants and related manufacturing facilities around South African.

Investors in this sector would soon be deciding where to put their money to build up these new industries.

“Such measures would do a great deal for attracting green technology to Cape Town, positioning us well for a new competitive advantage in energy production,” De Lille said.

“Moreover, it would provide investment in Atlantis of the kind not seen for some time.

De Lille said the city had recommended the sale of council-owned property in Claremont for the purposes of restitution as a land claim.

“If approved, this sale will settle 60 Claremont land restitution claims,” she said.

“However, to reach this point, we have accepted an evaluation for the property at R27 million.”

She said the amount was below its own evaluations that had placed the value at over R40 million.

The regional land claims commissioner has said, however, that the city’s assessment could not be met.

Source: www.iol.co.za

Although this is less than 1 percent of Durban’s [...]]]> DURBAN hopes to start building its first sun power farm in cane fields near La Mercy within weeks. The solar power farm is expected to cost about R50 million and provide about a megawatt of electricity for the city’s power grid.

Although this is less than 1 percent of Durban’s peak power demand, it is nevertheless the biggest solar project so far in South Africa.

Sun power projects of around 100MW are in the pipeline elsewhere in the country after the Energy Department called for expressions of interest last month for renewable energy projects.

Mark Gordon, special adviser on climate change in the national Environment Affairs Department, said yesterday that construction on the Durban project could start next month, subject to approval by the national electricity regulator, licensing and an environmental impact assessment.

“We hope it will be operational before the start of the international climate change conference in Durban at the end of November so we can showcase this project to the delegates and also demonstrate the potential of renewable energy.”

It is understood that the plant would be built on a 4ha site owned by Tongaat-Hulett.

The technology would probably be supplied by the French Soitec group, which produces concentrator solar photovoltaic panels.

Concentrator technology magnifies the sun’s rays on to conventional photovoltaic cells to create electricity.

Sources close to the project did not believe the project would create a glare problem for aircraft at King Shaka International Airport because they were designed to absorb rather than to reflect sunlight.

Last month, the Energy Department said it had set an initial target of producing at least 3 750MW of renewable energy, including about 1 450MW of solar photovoltaic energy.

Studies by the Energy Research Centre at the University of Cape Town suggest there are no technical reasons why South Africa could not meet at least 55 percent of its electricity needs with solar power by 2050.

However, researchers Max Edkins, Harald Winkler and Andrew Marquard acknowledged that moving from coal to sun power would come with a hefty price tag until solar technologies were refined and commercialised.

Edkins said the greatest barrier to a large-scale rollout of solar power was Eskom’s preference for fossil fuels.

Professor Dieter Holm, of the Southern African chapter of the International Solar Energy Society, agreed, saying: “The most important constraint is not money, men, machines, materials or management, but motivation, or inspired political will.”

Source: The Mercury

Oelsner Group, which built SA’s first wind farm at Darling, [...]]]> SA’s abundant sea waves have the potential to provide more than just a good surf. Wave energy — electricity generated from the movement of waves — could provide a cheap and sustainable form of renewable energy. But it’s early days.

Oelsner Group, which built SA’s first wind farm at Darling, is planning a 750MW wave energy project off the West Coast, near its Darling Wind Farm. The design is modelled on the University of Stellenbosch’s Wave Energy Converter (Swec) but the hurdles yet to be overcome include an environmental impact assessment, determining which authorities are responsible , and securing funding of R100m for a demo plant and R15bn in total.

The project would be made up of 150 units of 5MW each, all 1,5km away from the coast. These will stretch 40km from Darling to Saldanha and the power will be transported to land via a sea cable.

CEO Hermann Oelsner says there is potential to use offshore wind in conjunction with wave technology.

The main problem, however, is wave energy’s lack of support in energy policy. It is not mentioned in SA’s integrated resource plan, despite Oelsner’s efforts.

Prof Wikus van Niekerk, director at Stellenbosch University’s centre for renewable and sustainable energy studies, says research on the modelling and turbine design of the Swec continues, but it may still be far from commercial operation. One reason is the high cost of the technology. But the centre has introduced a new patent — the Shoreswec — which can be built into harbour walls to generate power. The centre has approached Growthpoint (owners of Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront) to install the Shoreswec into the harbour wall if a new marina is built.

“We are aware of the need for renewable energy,” says Growthpoint CEO Norbert Sasse . “We will consider it provided it is economically feasible and gives us a return.”

Source: www.fm.co.za

Last week, Eskom said that due to the tight power supply situation and the need to do routine maintenance at several power plants, some large industrial consumers will be expected to consume less electricity [...]]]> Johannesburg – The Democratic Alliance on Sunday warned that Eskom’s mandatory savings plan could prove expensive.

Last week, Eskom said that due to the tight power supply situation and the need to do routine maintenance at several power plants, some large industrial consumers will be expected to consume less electricity over the next few months.

DA spokesperson on energy David Ross said he would ask Eskom CEO Brain Dames to disclose how expensive these savings agreements would be.

Demand market participation agreements dictate the rate at which Eskom reimburses large industrial consumers for productivity losses due to power cuts.

Power outages are likely to take place over the next few months and this would be expensive, Ross said.

Source: News24