Electricity and Control April 2021

ENERGY MANAGEMENT + THE INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT : PRODUCTS + SERVICES

Integrated solutions to address energy security

Increasing electricity tariffs and ongoing load shedding have raised a lot of interest from private-sector clients looking to guarantee their energy security independent of electricity utility Eskom. Newly-appointed Energy Unit Leader at Zutari, Janice Foster, who took up the role in November 2020, notes that coupled with the global move towards ‘green’ energy, much of this interest is in renewable energy. For example she cites the recent announcement by Stellenbosch that it is investigating alternative energy sources to mitigate the impact of load shedding in the city. Foster highlights that the national procurement of new generation capacity, specifically as emergency or backup power, was re-initiated with a Request for Proposals issued by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy for the provision of 2 000 MW, by June 2022, under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement (RMIPPP) Programme. Zutari holds a leading position in the energy space as a co-creator of integrated solutions. This is endorsed by the fact that it has been involved in 50% of the submitted RMIPPP project bids, Foster says. A direct response to the short-term electricity supply gap identified in the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019, the RMIPPPP aims to alleviate the

current electricity supply constraints that South Africa faces. Adopting a similar approach to that established in the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, the RMIPPPP, Foster points out, is the first programme of its kind to be

Janice Foster, Energy Unit Leader at Zutari.

technology-agnostic. This means that hybrid plants are an option, and may comprise multiple technologies such as gas, renewables and battery energy storage. “Our client base extends from public-sector clients on a municipal and provincial level to private-sector clients such as project lenders and investors, owners and developers,” Foster says. As a multi-disciplinary engineering firm, Zutari has delivery units providing services across energy, water, infrastructure, transport, resources and manufacturing and advisory sectors. The energy unit comprises four-teams: generation, transmission and distribution, industrial power and automation, and systems studies and network planning. Hence the unit provides services across the full spectrum of energy projects from small-scale individual projects to regional-level modelling. The industrial team focuses on design delivery of electrical power and automation systems in the energy, mining, oil and gas, water, wastewater and renewable energy industries. “One of our major competitive advantages in the ener- gy space is that we are a one-stop shop. Working closely with Zutari’s other delivery units, we can do everything from providing environmental assessments to detailed geotech- nical investigations and structural design, and of course all the detail in terms of electrical engineering,” Foster

The Kathu solar PV project in the Northern Cape is just one of the renewable energy projects in which Zutari has been involved.

Growth of gas-to-power forecast for Africa

The African Coalition for Trade & Investment in Natural Gas (ACTING) has released its State of Play: African Gas 2021 report , providing the most comprehensive, up-to-date and accurate resource on sub-Saharan Africa’s natural gas markets. The report looks at trends in the industry highlighting an anticipated increase in localisation and regionalisation of LNG trade on the back of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and competitive gas prices; domestic gas monetisation in West and East Africa, supported by significant gas-to-power capacity addition; and indicating that African gas is entering a decade of diversification with developments in small-scale LNG (Nigeria, South Africa), coal-bed methane (Botswana, South Africa) and helium (Tanzania, South Africa) taking shape. As several African nations seek to increase the con- sumption and monetisation of natural gas across their economies, the ACTING report highlights that the conti- nent remains one the lowest consumers of gas globally.

Low gas penetration rates in sub-Saharan Africa contrast with the extensive natural gas reserves found onshore and offshore, from Senegal to Mozambique. The development of these reserves could lift millions out of poverty and provide a key resource for the continent to advance industrialisation. By gathering several datasets into a single resource, the ACTING report brings together current information on sub-Saharan African gas markets. It reveals that the growth of Africa’s natural gas consumption and production is set to be one of the world’s fastest until 2040, on the ACTING has released its inaugural report on the natural gas industry in sub-Saharan Africa.

18 Electricity + Control APRIL 2021