South Africa launches plan to get 2,500MW of new nuclear energy
Minister in the presidency for electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has gazetted a new determination launching the process to procure 2,500MW of nuclear energy for South Africa.
The minister said that the procuring the new nuclear energy generation capacity is being done per the 2019 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), and got sign-off from the national energy regulator (Nersa) and in consultation with the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE).
Under the determination, South Africa will procure 2,500MW of new nuclear energy which will either be generated by Eskom, or any other organ of state in partnership with any other juristic person.
Eskom – or any entity that results from the power utility’s unbundling process – will be the buyer of said electricity, procured through the DMRE.
The DMRE will also be responsible for the entire procurement process and ensuring the tendering process will be fair.
Ramokgopa announced the intention to launch the procurement process in December 2023, with the plan to kick things off before the end of the financial year. The government is expected to publish a request for proposals (RFP) for 2,500 MW of new nuclear capacity by March 2024.
As per the presidency, the determination was first signed off by the DMRE and concurred with by Nersa back in 2021, but the exchange of powers between the various ministries – including the new powers assigned to Ramokgopa around procurements – necessitated that the whole affair go through another layer of approvals.
While the decision to move ahead with new energy generation sources has been sparked by the ongoing energy crisis in the country – where South Africans have suffered through years of load shedding amid Eskom’s problematic and unreliable fleet – the new nuclear procurement won’t solve any short-term problems.
The process is expected to take ten years – at best – and there are deep concerns around the affordability of future builds.
South Africa currently has the continent’s only nuclear energy plant in the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, which has proven to be one of the most reliable generators of electricity among Eskom’s ageing fleet, delivering 1,860MW to the grid when fully operational.
The station is currently undergoing life-extension maintenance, with unit 2 offline until later this year. Once complete, the power station should be able to run for 20 more years.
Under the draft 2023 IRP, the DMRE has not indicated any additional nuclear energy contributions through the end of its first ‘horizon’ of 2030.
However, in the 2030-2050 horizon, a mix of new generation sources is listed, including nuclear.
The future build pathway that embraces nuclear includes a 2,500MW build in 2031-2035, further nuclear procurement of 1,925MW to the end of 2040, and a massive 10,075MW by the end of 2050.
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