Gariep Dam in the Free State.file photo
Titus Mate, chief executive of South Africa's National Institute for Energy Development, says South Africa's frequent and worsening water shortages are forcing hydropower to be phased out as an alternative solution to the energy crisis.
In an interview with email and guardianMate said that before water scarcity became an issue, hydropower could have been an important solution to electricity shortages as a source of clean renewable energy.
Mate added that it would also help provide baseload, or the amount of electricity available at any time for the country's energy needs.
“At the moment we can only get our baseload from three sources of energy: hydro, nuclear and coal. It will take some time to do so,” Mate said.
Hydropower is part of the country's energy mix, but water shortages prevent it from being used as a main power source, and Mate said South Africa is reverting to coal and considering nuclear power as a baseload power source. .
According to Statistics South Africa, hydropower contributes 3,484 megawatts to the energy grid. “From 2013 to 2022, hydropower capacity increased by approximately 63.2 percent, with a sharp increase in 2016 to 3,147 MW from 2,148 MW the previous year,” the group said.
The country's largest hydropower station is Ingula, KwaZulu-Natal, with an output of 1,332MW. It is operated by Eskom.
The country faces severe water shortages, with demand projected to exceed supply by 17% by 2030, according to a World Bank report.
The World Bank said the shortage is affecting economic sectors such as agriculture, industry, energy generation, ecosystems, environmental degradation and biodiversity loss.
The water crisis is also exacerbated by inadequate maintenance, lack of planning for population growth, mismanagement and corruption. As a result, many municipalities are losing water to leaks, according to Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu.
Mchunu said last month that climate change, which is causing abnormal rainfall, is also contributing to water scarcity and scarcity.
To meet energy challenges and reduce emissions levels, South Africa has been looking at alternative sources of electricity to replace coal as its main source of electricity.
Renewable energy is attracting attention as an alternative to coal, but its intermittent nature makes it unsuitable.
“Hydropower would fit well with the Paris Agreement if we had water, but clean coal could also be an alternative,” Mate said. The Paris Agreement is an international commitment signed by United Nations member states to curb climate change.
Mathe said South Africa should focus on investing in technologies that can clean up the country's coal holdings, as baseload remains a challenge.
“If possible, we can introduce cleaner technology into the coal we use to remove sulfur particulates and mercury until we are ready to move to another baseload technology like nuclear power. Before that happens, we can't let go of coal without another solution.”
He further added: “The challenge is that these technologies are very expensive. Hydropower, like nuclear power, is also very expensive to build, but in the long run these technologies will benefit the country. ”