Durban - The SA Independent Power Producers Association says the easiest, best and fastest way of adding capacity to the grid is for municipalities to feed off rooftop solar panels and battery storage.
Tommy Garner, the CEO of the association, said if municipalities allowed their residents to install solar panels and large storage batteries, this would enable consumers to become “prosumers”, as they could put energy back into the municipal grid.
“If that happens – especially in areas like Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Tshwane, Johannesburg and Rustenburg – we will quickly start resolving load shedding,” Garner said. With the country currently in the grip of rolling blackouts that have devastated businesses and, in turn, the economy, political parties have instituted legal action against Eskom and the National Energy Regulator of SA.
The aim is to force the troubled power utility to end load shedding and reverse the recently approved 18.65% electricity tariff hikes. The DA wants to interdict the execution of the decision to effect the increases pending another application brought by it to challenge the government’s implementation of load shedding and its general response to the country’s energy crisis.
In papers filed at the North Gauteng High Court this week, DA leader John Steenhuisen stated that part B of the official opposition’s application was a semi-urgent review of various decisions taken by the government in response to the ongoing energy crisis.
According to the DA, Nersa’s decision is inconsistent with the Constitution, and the party wants the high court to declare it as such and set it aside. It has argued that Nersa and Eskom should not implement the decision to increase tariffs, as doing so would be irrational, unlawful and unreasonable.
The DA cites Nersa, Eskom, President Cyril Ramaphosa and a number of his cabinet ministers, as well as the nine provincial premiers as respondents. “Nersa’s decision constitutes an irrational, unreasonable retrogressive measure,” the DA said, adding that Eskom’s tariffs had increased by 653% for all customers since 2007.
Steenhuisen said Nersa’s decision was based on the flawed premise that an increase in tariffs would somehow assist the power utility in recovering from its financial circumstances and providing electricity to its customers. Nersa’s Charles Hlebela said the regulator still needed to go through the DA’s court papers before it could advise on the way forward.
In a separate matter, Mabuza Attorneys, Buthelezi Vilakazi Inc, Makangela Mtungani Inc, Mketsu & Associates Inc, Mphahlele & Masipa Inc, Madlanga & Partners Inc, and Ntanga Nkuhlu Inc Attorneys, as well UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, Build One SA founder Mmusi Maimane, the IFP, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, and policy analyst Lukhona Mnguni, among others, are demanding an end to load shedding.
They are demanding an undertaking from Eskom that there will be no load shedding without procedural fairness and a fair opportunity for affected persons and businesses to make alternative arrangements.
They want load shedding to “stop with immediate effect” and, if this is not possible, for there to be “a full explanation about why the government is unable to stop load shedding with immediate effect”. “In the alternative, we are instructed to demand a specific timetable as to when load shedding will end, and the reasons for the said timetable,” reads the letter from Mabuza Attorneys to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom.
The group is demanding that the state commit to compensating everyone who suffered quantifiable financial losses because of load shedding. They also want the government to develop and make publicly available a clear plan to end load shedding, which must include information about the resources available that happens.
According to the letter of demand, the 18.65% increase granted by Nersa must not be implemented pending the outcome a planned court challenge by Mabuza Attorneys’ clients. Gordhan and Eskom were given until Friday to give the undertakings sought, or face a court application to secure appropriate relief. Meanwhile, Garner said there was a massive opportunity for independent power producers in the country.
“IPPs are a good opportunity, however, there are so many challenges. It’s locked up in red tape, but IPPs will endure, and will make a massive impact in the next few years,” he said. “There is not enough grid capacity for IPPs to connect beyond the current 9000MW that is in the pipeline on the private side.
“There should be a working group focusing only on access to servitudes where it’s problematic for Eskom to access those servitudes for transmission, so that is something that needs to be expedited and lifted to another level,” Garner said. Garner said there were currently over 100 IPPs in the country generating around 6 500MW from renewable energy.
Presently, 92 IPP projects were registered on the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy database and currently in operation. However, the department did not respond to questions sent to it this week seeking clarity on the operations of the registered IPPs.
With concerns about whether IPPs would be able to provide adequate supply to communities across South Africa and lighten the load on Eskom, Garner said the IPPs programme would make an impact, as there were around 9 000MW of projects currently in the development phase.
“Most of these are almost permitted, some of them are fully permitted, and some – maybe a handful – are in construction already. Within the next two years, we will add between 9 000MW and 15 000MW of capacity to the grid,” Garner said. Among other concerns about IPPs was whether the power they produced would be expensive. Garner quelled such concerns, saying IPPs already on the grid and supplying electricity to Eskom were not exploiting consumers.
“IPPs have a contracted tariff, and that tariff escalates annually at a certain rate, which is either the consumer price index or a percentage of CPI, and that’s contractual. IPP cost doesn’t go up by 12%, 15%, or 18% – it goes up according to CPI or a percentage of CPI,” Garner said. He added that in the private market there was enough competition for buyers of electricity to keep IPPs honest, meaning they would not have the opportunity to exploit consumers.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE