South Africa Weighs Gas as High-Cost Power Fuel Alternative to Nuclear Ambitions

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Gas currently accounts for only 3% of South Africa's energy consumption, but a National Planning Commission report has raised the possibility of the country abandoning its nuclear power build ambitions, and instead using imported natural gas as its fuel feed for future additional power generation capacity.

However, gas is relatively expensive in South Africa, which is the only developing country included in a National Union of Students survey that covers 18 countries, most of them in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

South Africa's gas is the most expensive but its electricity is about mid-table. Italy has the most expensive electricity market at 20.56 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh), and Sweden is the least expensive at 8.25 c/kWh.

South Africa has experienced a dramatic increase in natural gas prices (spiking 101.7%) and was the most expensive gas market in the survey at 12.55 c/kWh, while the U.S. and Canada reported the lowest price at 2.33 and 2.23 c/kWh, respectively.

According to the report, electricity prices in South Africa showed the third-highest increase in the world during 2013.

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