Plans for new private power company in South Africa: report
Civil action group AfriForum says it has plans to start its own power generation company.
Speaking to the City Press the group said it is fed up with South Africa’s decade-long battle with load shedding – which has caused significant disruptions to daily life and economic activity – and has engaged in discussions with specialist venture capital firm C5 Capital which invests in nuclear energy, among other things.
The group plans to develop a nuclear peddle-bed reactor – compact enough to fit on a truck and supply a whole city with reliable power for up to 40 years, said City Press.
It noted that South African-born C5 Captial CEO André Pienaar and his companies have already started building such a reactor in the state of Washington in the United States.
AfriForum’s role will reportedly be to facilitate the investments and expertise needed for the development of the reactors.
AfriForum’s plan to successfully introduce a nuclear power company to South Africa is part of its three-stage comprehensive power plan, known as Project AfriEnergie – which was presented in November.
The stages detailed in the plan include the following:
- Stage one – is to help consumers become independent from Eskom, including mounting a court case against the National Energy Regulator of SA.
- Stage two – is to free towns, cities and communities from municipal electricity. An example is Mafube Local Municipality in the Free State, where privately owned utility business Rural Maintenance has successfully managed the town’s electricity supply for the past ten years.
- Stage Three – establishing an electricity generation company to provide a long-term power solution through nuclear generation.
A plan of this scale comes as South Africa started 2023 by experiencing stage 6 load-shedding for almost two weeks. South Africa has experienced load shedding every day of the year so far.
The consequences of load shedding are far-reaching and affect nearly every aspect of life in South Africa.
Businesses and industries are hit hard, with many forced to shut down operations or reduce production during load-shedding hours. This results in lost revenue and job losses.
Load shedding also affects essential services such as hospitals, schools and transportation, putting lives at risk and causing significant disruptions to education and health care.
The government has taken steps to address the load shedding crisis, including increasing investment in renewable energy and independent power producers and implementing measures to improve Eskom’s efficiency and financial stability.
However, these efforts have yet to fully address the issue, and load-shedding is still a regular occurrence in South Africa.
Pienaar told City Press that the Washington nuclear reactor is working and could start generating power as soon as 2027.
“Although developing a modular reactor is expensive, the costs can be offset once it becomes operational,” he said.
Pienaar added while South Africa has a robust nuclear power ecosystem, the most challenging hurdle to overcome will be legislation, which stipulates that only government can generate nuclear power.
Nevertheless, both AfriForum and Pienaar believe that international investors and the local private sector will invest in developing such reactors – adding that the days of an energy monopoly such as Eskom’s are numbered.
Read: Ramaphosa’s plan for load shedding after a week of emergency meetings
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