S. AFRICA WANTS SUN

Firms keen to salvage Eskom solar project
Siseko Njobeni, August 20, 2009 (Business Day)

"SA’s biggest solar energy project, shelved by Eskom six months ago, may yet see fruition as companies were keen to take over the project, South African National Energy Research Institute (Saneri)…said…

"The possibility of another entity taking over the facility, earmarked for the Northern Cape, keeps SA’s aspirations for renewable energy alive. Hopes for renewable energy were dashed when Eskom announced the solar facility was one of the projects it had put on hold due to inadequate finance for its multibillion-rand capital expenditure programme. Other affected projects included pumped storage and wind facilities."

S. Africa is plagued by power outages...(click to enlarge)

"…[S]ome companies had stated their intentions to take over the solar project…[S]tate-owned Central Energy Fund (CEF) was also interested in the project but was likely to be a minority shareholder. Saneri is a subsidiary of the CEF.

"The plant’s technology will allow the storage of renewable energy for use during peak demand in the evening. By the time the project was put on hold, Eskom had held discussions with technology partners and completed a draft project plan…Because of its solar resource, the Northern Cape is considered the most suitable location for concentrating solar power generation…[Eskom said] the solar project was essentially a research and development initiative…"

...and yet, look at all that sun! (click to enlarge)

"CEF has projects to roll out solar water heaters in the Nelson Mandela Bay and Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipalities. The Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipality project could see the company distribute about 60000 solar water heater units in the next five years. There were about 300000 households in the municipality…

"Saneri was also in discussions with the Robben Island Museum regarding a possible solar photovoltaic project on the island."