A speeded-up solar, wind and storage (SWS) approach is needed to advance South Africa’s decarbonised energy situation and take the country into a cleaner, greener future.

Also, steps need to be taken to allow the delayed Tubatse pumped-storage scheme to go ahead as an independent power producer (IPP) project.

These are the views of retired civil engineering construction cost consultant David Easton, who spoke to Engineering News & Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview.

Easton criticised the slow phasing in of renewable energy projects through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP)and, in particular, decried the long delay between Window 4 and Window 5.

He sees SWS as having “magnificent investment” potential.

“There are huge firms itching to come here. So where’s the problem? We’ve got the sites, we’ve got the engineers, we’ve got the roads to get there.

“So, we’ve got to look at it from what’s holding it back. Grid is a problem. We’ve got to connect it all up. There’s a lot of wires to take them from the Northern Cape, or from Limpopo, down to the centres of the consumers, especially the industrial consumers,” he said.

Interestingly, in an Engineering News article dated 12 September, 2014, Easton had this to say on the delayed Tubatse pumped-storage scheme: “A pumped-storage scheme at present is the only practicable and economically viable way to store electrical energy in large quantities.”

He concluded the article with these words: “Some of the considerable number of actions that have to be taken start with the process to invite competitive bids, as was done for the REIPPPP. The 64 solar and wind projects under construction at present have given the whole South African engineering, banking and legal professions a huge exposure to new forms of getting difficult power generation projects successfully negotiated and completed. The way forward is to complete the Tubatse pumped-storage scheme as an IPP.”

Engineering News & Mining Weekly put these questions to Easton:

Do you think that South Africans who want to go exclusively for SWS – solar, wind and storage – are going in the right direction? And when it comes to storage, do you think pumped-storage schemes could play a role provided there is sufficient renewable energy to power these water batteries?

Easton: Yes, if we look at a timescale, for instance, in 50 years’ time. I take 50 years because all of the coal-fired power stations would have gone by that time. The intermediate situation is that South Africa depends on coal for 80% of its power and that’s a fossil fuel. It is causing problems with its emissions, so immediately we have to have a plan. Not that we can change that situation overnight. We have solar, we have sufficient sun, but insufficient grid. For instance, if we try to generate a lot of solar in the Northern Cape, we’ve got to get that back with a grid capable and quickly – on that I suggest we need an additional grid for these forms of renewable energy. Now, wind is also in different parts of South Africa. There’s a map of the wind availability and again if we choose what we were trying to work on the lowest cost, cost comes into all three of these [including] going to the third one of storage, which is to take us through the hours when the other two are not working. This is the way we have to go.

I’ve been listening to global webinars over and over and one that really remained with me involved Mark Carney, the United Nations special envoy on climate change action and funding, who spoke of $130- trillion being available to 2050, and that green energy proposals need to be put forward at a faster pace. Do you get the impression that the funds are there if the projects are appropriate?

Easton: Yes, I do.

Also, South Africa’s just transition proposals at COP26 were hailed as a template for the rest of the developing world. Available to us is $8.5-billion. The Shell Foundation also wants to help entrepreneurs in transitioning carbon-intensive areas with blended finance. Do you get that impression that maybe we should be moving faster?

Easton: Yes, definitely. We have the pieces. We can put them together.