Utility-Scale Wind, Solar PV, & Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Increased From 467 MW In 2013 To 6,230 MW In 2022 In South Africa
South Africa’s grid is dominated by coal. According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Statistics of Utility-Scale Power Generation In South Africa In 2022 Report, the contribution from coal dropped below 80% for the first time ever.
In 2022, 77.7% of the 228 TWh was met by South Africa’s coal plants. South Africa’s coal power plants provided 176.6 TWh of electricity in 2022. Nuclear energy contributed 10.1 TWh (4.4%) and for the third time running, while solar PV, wind, and CSP surpassed nuclear, contributing 15.9 TWh (7%). The rest was met by other sources, including diesel, hydro, and pumped storage plants.
The Koeberg plant in Cape Town is the only operational nuclear power station in Africa (Egypt has started construction of nuclear power plants, and other nations are at various stages of exploration). It is a pressurised water reactor (PWR). According to Eskom, Koeberg has the largest turbine generators in the Southern Hemisphere and is the most southerly-situated nuclear power station in the world. It has two 970-MW units giving an installed capacity of 1,940 MW.
South Africa has been gradually adding utility-scale wind, solar PV, and concentrating solar power (CSP), increasing the installed capacity from 467 MW in 2013 to 6,230 MW as at the end of 2022. However, South Africa’s electricity production has been dropping since 2011, from 250 TWh to 233 TWh in 2022. Eskom plants’ average annual Energy Availability Factor (EAF) dropped to 58.1% in 2022. It had been 66.9% in 2019 and 71.9% in 2018.
South Africa’s nominal installed capacity increased from 53,673 MW in 2021 to 54,669 MW in 2022 thanks to new capacity from 720 MW of coal, 419 MW of wind, and 75 MW of solar PV that became operational in 2022. Below is a summary of the installed capacity.
54 GW of wholesale/public nominal capacity is made up of:
- Coal — 39.8 GW (increased)
- Nuclear — 1.9 GW (unchanged)
- Diesel (OCGT) — 3.4 GW (unchanged)
- Hydro is 0.6 GW hydro and pumped storage — 2.7 GW (unchanged)
- Wind — 3.4 GW (unchanged)
- Solar PV — 2.3 GW (increased)
- CSP — 0.5 GW (unchanged) Read More…
Source : cleantechnica
