South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (Sapvia) reiterated its call for the use of the “least-cost” approach in drafting South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) Base Case as the comment period on the Department of Energy’s (DoE’s) draft Base Case closed.

“The biggest issue with the draft IRP2016 is that it artificially limits the amount of renewable energy that can be added to the grid over the next 20 years with no rationale for imposing the limits,” Sapvia CEO and Ministerial Committee on Energy member Mike Levington says. This means greater allocations for nuclear and coal at higher costs than new solar and wind energy.

“Sapvia has recommended that the least-cost unconstrained scenario of the IRP be adopted as the Base Case scenario. “This will ensure that the mix of technologies included in the IRP2016 is chosen according to those that are most cost effective and reliable,” he adds.

The group points to recent models and research released by the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) that showed that solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy provide the cheapest new sources of generation capacity.

In January, the CSIR model produced a base case that increased the yearly limits placed on the amount of wind and solar PV and used the 62c/kWh prices achieved in the most recent bid window of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) to show a least-cost energy mix some R80-billion cheaper than the DoE’s base case, also producing 130-million tons less carbon dioxide emissions and consuming 29-billion litres less water a year.

Engineering News previously reported that the model found the least-cost mix to deliver the 525 TWh/y assumed by 2050 comprised more than 70% solar PV and wind, backed by gas, hydro and a small amount of coal-fired capacity.

Sapvia reiterates that rapid advancements in renewable energy have meant that the cost of new-build solar PV and wind energy have plummeted from R3.65/kWh in Round 1 to R0.62/kWh in Round 4 of the REIPPPP.

“This price is significantly lower than the tariff prices for coal from IPPs (R1.03/kWh), Eskom coal (R1.10/kWh) and nuclear power, which is estimated at between R1.17/kWh and R1.30/kWh,” says Levington.

The World Wide Fund for Nature-South Africa (WWF-SA), meanwhile, says the first draft of the IRP falls short of government’s ambitions within the National Development Plan and underscored the importance of South Africa’s need to embrace renewable energy as the country’s single-largest potential energy source.

“Wind and solar power are now demonstrably the cheapest sources of power in the world, and through smart investments in electric vehicles and transport, the possibility exists to move completely away from the fossil-fuel-heavy development paradigm that is destroying the world,” WWF-SA land and climate project manager James Reeler says.

WWF believes that South Africa needs to embrace renewable energy and build on the “good start” made by the REIPPPP to decarbonise the energy sector and steer away from “costly nuclear power and dirty coal”.