Johannesburg - The government was considering generating hydropower by retrofitting existing infrastructure, such as large dams, water schemes and canals, according to a Department of Water and Sanitation draft sustainable hydropower generation policy.
South Africa has increasingly looked to renewable energy technologies to reduce the country’s overreliance on coal for power generation.
In the recently gazetted draft policy, the department said the country had the potential to develop hydropower at existing water infrastructure. “Instead of dams being constructed… existing reservoirs that are used for other purposes, can be fitted with hydropower plants in order to augment electricity supply towards meeting peak electricity demands.”
The department said, owing to the shift towards renewable energy, hydropower projects such as those that were retrofitted to existing dams were environmentally and financially attractive due to the existing suitable infrastructure.
The department said it would collaborate with the Department of Energy, which is running the Independent Power Producer (IPP) Procurement Programme, through which government procures electricity generated from solar, wind, biomass, small hydro and landfill gas power plants. Private sector investment in the IPP Procurement Programme, which was launched in 2011, exceeds R194 billion.
The National Development Plan has set a target of 20 000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity.
Commenting on the department’s move, Frost & Sullivan programme manager for energy and environment, Johan Muller, said yesterday that although at the moment the number of solar and wind projects in South Africa outstripped water projects, there was investor appetite in the water sector.
Muller cited water projects such as the 3MW Sol Plaatje project, the 4MW Merino project, as well as relatively larger projects such as the Drakensberg Pumped Storage project (1 000MW) and the 400MW Palmiet Project.
“It should be emphasised that the bulk of the projects going forward in South Africa will be of a smaller nature, given our water resources.”
He said hydropower in South Africa had, to date, not been explored to its full potential, “with reason”.
The mooted projects should be technologically, socially, environmentally and economically feasible. “And even if the hydropower contribution compared to other Eskom and (IPP) sources is not as significant, I believe that the market will respond to any expressions of interest by looking at the technology and economic factors first and foremost,” Muller said.
He said South Africa was classified as a water-stressed country, receiving about half of the global average (985mm) in terms of rainfall per annum.
“The hydropower potential is seen as moderate given our energy demand (and) supply profile, where fossil fuels have traditionally been the source of the bulk of the required energy in South Africa, namely via coal-fired generation,” he said.
“Previous studies have identified about 6 000 to 8 000 sites where power can be generated from water as a source, but… these projects will be small – well below 100MW – compared to the traditional coal, nuclear… energy programmes.”
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