South Africa Prepares to Move on 9,600 Megawatts of Nuclear Power with Six New Plants

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The bidding process for South Africa's fleet of new nuclear power plants is back on track. Bidding was originally planned to start in April this year, but was stalled in reaction to Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant disaster. The government asked the department of energy to conduct further research, with safety features high on the list of priorities.

Previously, plans by state-controlled power utility Eskom (Johannesburg) had been scrapped amid a welter of funding woes that were exacerbated by the power supply crisis in 2008, which crippled mines and heavy industry. At present, 90% of the country's power is fuelled by coal, and the government is aware of the importance that power security has for companies, including major platinum and gold miners and the ferrochrome industry. The government is also committed to reducing the heavy carbon footprint created by coal-fired power plants.

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said that the bidding process is now likely to begin in early 2012. In the aftermath of Fukushima the minister said that the ministry's team "went back to the drawing board," and that she had visited various nuclear plants around the world and the International Atomic Energy Agency (Vienna, Austria) in an effort to better understand the technology.

Currently, South Africa operates Africa's only nuclear power plant at Koeberg on the south Atlantic coast near Cape Town. The minister said that a plan to build a fleet of six nuclear plants was favored, as this would keep costs down by benefitting from economies of scale. A total generation capacity of 9,600 megawatts (MW) was envisaged from the six plants, and the first power should be fed into the grid in 2024 or 2025. This was later than the original estimate of 2023, because of the delays due to the safety concerns.

Renewable energy sources will help to feed the gap, and major coal-fired projects are due for commissioning between 2013 and 2016. The bidding process is under way, following a strong local and international response, for 3,725 MW of renewable power that should be delivered to the grid by 2016.

For related news, see August 5, 2011, article - South Africa Launches Bidding for 3,725 Megawatts of Renewable Projects.

Safety and environmental concerns mean that the state, through Eskom, will control nuclear projects, but the private sector will construct the nuclear plants. Eskom had gained experience operating the Koeberg plant, said the minister.

The full range of international power and reactor building majors has been waiting and watching while the country's nuclear plans have blown hot and cold. The plan to build a fleet of six plants will not only create orders for reactors but will create lucrative project contracts for all types of power equipment , control systems and transmission lines.

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