Durban - A KwaZulu-Natal sugarcane farmer, Charl Senekal, could launch one of the country’s first and biggest privately owned “green” commercial power stations within two years if he gets Eskom supply approval, expected from the national energy regulator later this year.
Senekal, one of the biggest private sugar producers in Africa, said he and his son, Andre, were in the final design phases of a R700 million electricity plant which could provide enough stable electricity to power the equivalent of 40 000 houses by 2015.
The plant has environmental impact assessment approval and is now in the tender bidding process with the national energy department, Eskom and national energy regulator, Nersa.
With climbing input costs, Senekal said finding ways to add value to farming operations was the only way agriculture could survive.
“This (power plant) is an economic imperative. It adds about R9 000 income a hectare for us,” he said.
In December, national Minister of Energy Dipuo Peters called for the submission of renewable electricity supply tenders to contribute to the national power supply “as soon as possible”.
In the Government Gazette notice, she urged the development of renewable energy supply from solar, wind, biogas, biomass, landfill gas and hydro projects. The electricity, says the notice, will be bought by Eskom or “offtakers” approved by the department.
The South African Sugar Association will submit 14 tender bids from their 14 sugar mills in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga for power co-generation, whereas Senekal said his submission was for an independent power plant able to generate up to 18 megawatts of electricity using the offcuts from the sugar cane harvested from his 5 000ha.
The plant is to be built on the Senekal’s farm near Mkuze, within a stone’s throw of an Eskom sub-station.
South Africa has a total generation capacity of about 39 000MW, so the total amount from this private power station amounts to about 0.05 percent of Eskom’s current capacity.
Senekal said final bidding documents were due at the end of the month, with a decision expected by August.
His son said trials conducted with Belgian and Australian technology companies started on the farm in 2010.
“In the past, we used to burn our cane fields before harvesting. Now we “trash” it. That means we cut the leaves and tops off the sugar cane stalks. Once the power plant is in operation, we will bale these tops and leaves using Australian technology. We will have at least two months’ supply in reserve all the time.”
He calculated the return on the “trash’” at about R300 a ton, when sugar cane income was about R400 a ton.
He said the plant would be completely carbon-neutral and employ 141 people.
The baler will drop a 500kg bale of biomass every four minutes to ensure the 150 000 ton steady supply required by the plant, which would operate for at least 8 000 hours a year. Maintenance would happen in the off season.
Senekal said he expected to turn the first sod in September. Whatever happened, they would build the plant and, if approval to supply Eskom was not granted, they would supply private users.
Unlike coal, which is non-renewable, sugar cane, maize and other crops are renewable forms of energy. However, global initiatives to convert food-producing land into large-scale biofuel plantations has been controversial, because of concerns about food security, environmental degradation and localised air pollution.
In the December Government Gazette, the following renewable megawatt generation capacity allocation targets for each technology were:
* Onshore wind: 1 470MG
* Concentrated solar power: 400MG
* Solar photovoltaic: 1 075MG
* Small hydro: 60MG
* Biomass: 47.5MG
* Biogas: 47.5 MG
* Small projects: 100MG