By Elena Alifirova
Russia and the Republic of South Africa (SAR) are negotiating several joint energy projects in the country, incl.one on the construction of a gas power plant.
This was announced on August 15, 2023 by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation following a meeting between Deputy Minister of Energy S. Mochalnikov and Ambassador of South Africa to the Russian Federation M. D. Maketuki.
Russia - South Africa
During the meeting, S. Mochalnikov and M. D. Maketuka discussed Russian-South African cooperation in the energy sector and the situation with South Africa's energy supply.
Issues related to:cooperation between the 2 countries within the framework of BRICS on the eve of the BRICS Ministerial Meeting on Energy, which will be held in Johannesburg on August 18, 2023,current cooperation between Russia and South Africa in the field of trading of oil and petroleum products,growth in electricity consumption in South Africa, requiring the development of generating capacities.
South Africa chairs the BRICS in 2023, the 15th summit of the organization's countries will be held on August 22-24, 2023 in Johannesburg at the Sandton International Conference Center.
In the face of difficulties in the country's power industry, ensuring a stable power supply during the summit period is not an easy task.
South Africa's state-owned electricity company Eskom will not suspend rolling blackouts during the BRICS summit, but city officials may take action to keep the power on in the area where the meeting will take place.
At the same time, the Sandton center itself has diesel generators that are able to provide an uninterrupted supply of electricity to its premises.
Recently, the duration of rolling blackouts in Johannesburg is up to 5 hours.
S. Mochalnikov and M. D. Maketuka discussed the possibility of building a gas power plant in South Africa and modernizing coal-fired thermal power plants in the country.
Theses from S. Mochalnikov:
our countries are interested in developing mutually beneficial cooperation in the energy sector,
we are currently working on the possibility of building a gas-fired power plant with our South African partners,
the issues of supply of equipment are being discussed, the possibility of organizing the supply of Russian liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) for the effective functioning of new generating capacities is being considered,
the implementation of renewable energy projects by Russian companies in South Africa is proceeding in accordance with the plan,
Russian companies have extensive experience in modernizing coal-fired power plants in Russia and are ready to assist in the repair and renovation of coal-fired power facilities in South Africa through concession agreements that can be secured at the intergovernmental level.
It was also noted that cooperation in the field of standardization and conformity assessment of oil and gas equipment could become a new promising area.
Problems with generation in South Africa
The energy crisis in South Africa began in 2003 and continues to this day.
In 2022-2023, the situation worsened, prolonged rolling blackouts in the country have been operating continuously since March 2022.
In February 2023, South African President S. Ramaphosa announced the introduction of a national disaster regime due to constant power outages in the country.
The current electricity deficit in South Africa is about 6,000 MW.
The reason for this situation is the aging equipment of the coal-fired thermal power plants and the low maintenance culture at the existing facilities.
Today, the oal-fired power plants in South Africa operate at half the available capacity.
Coal-fired thermal power plants form the backbone of South Africa's generating capacity and account for the largest share of installed power plant capacity in the country:
coal thermal power plants - 83%,
HPP and PSP - 8%,
gas thermal power plants - 5%,
NPP - 4%.
Despite the obsolescence of existing coal-fired power plants (many Eskom power plants are over 50 years old), the South African government gave Eskom permission for a significant increase in energy production (by 70%) only in 2004
. technical problems and cost overruns.
At the same time, the existing fleet of power plants was not modernized and continued to operate after the end of its service life.
Aging power plants and the need for maintenance and repairs lead to unplanned outages.
The South African authorities saw the solution to these problems in the development of renewable energy sources, but the fundamental instability of their generation only led to the aggravation of existing problems with energy supply.
In part, South Africa's problems can be eased by importing electricity from Lesotho, Mozambique , Zimbabwe and Zambia.
During the Russia-Africa summit, held in July 2023 in St. Petersburg, Deputy Minister of the Department of State Enterprises of South Africa K. O. Bapela said that his country needs to modernize existing and build new power plants and looks forward to cooperation with Russia in this area.
The official noted that many generation facilities are coming to the end of their service life and the main task now is to provide the population with electricity and build new power plants.
In resolving this issue, South Africa is counting on cooperation with Russia, which will allow the country to switch to a new electricity supply scheme.
According to the estimates of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, South Africa needs an additional 25 thousand MW / year of electricity, which is about 7 large power plants.