Mpumalanga Business 2023-24

SPECIAL FEATURE
111 turbines, each of which will require two days of scheduled
maintenance every year. Venn stated that his company would invest
between R20-billion and R30-billion into the greater Ermelo region
over the next five years. It is in these statistics that it becomes clear
that the transition to clean energy will indeed create new jobs.
Mpumalanga advantage
One of South Africa’s most successful investment projects, the
Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement
Programme (REIPPPP), suffered a setback in the period between
2015 and 2021. It has since been relaunched and investors are
queuing up to take a stake in greener energy but South Africa
has now come up against the constraints of the national grid. In
the most recent round of bidding for projects, the Northern Cape
received fewer projects than it otherwise would have if the national
grid was keeping up with increased generation potential of new
projects. This gives Mpumalanga a comparative advantage.
With most of South Africa’s power stations located in
Mpumalanga, the issue of grid capacity does not arise.
Eskom has been one of the first entities to react to this
opportunity to build newer, greener facilities. In July 2022, Eskom
announced 18 winnings bids from independent power producers
(IPPs) for renewable projects on Eskom land, 4 000ha of which the
utility has made available for this first phase. Eskom owns 36 000ha
in the province. A total of 1 800MW will become available to the
grid and it will be cheaper to transmit because the solar or wind
plants will be right next to the existing Eskom transmission lines.
Ten coal plants are due to be closed by 2040, with four
Mpumalanga plants (Hendrina, Grootvlei, Camden and Komati) first
in line. Eskom is undertaking studies to assess the potential impact
on local communities of these closures. Options to get these plants
producing energy again include gas, biomass and hydrogen but it
is possible they might be used for something quite different. Eskom
wants to be a net-zero company by 2050.
The relaxation by national government of the rules regarding setting
up a power plant of 100MW or less is well suited to the requirements of
big timber-processing companies such as Sappi and PG Bison and all the
large mining concerns that are active in Mpumalanga.
Wind is viable
The size and scope of Seriti Green’s project may come as a surprise
to people who had written Mpumalanga off as a potential venue
for wind power. There was no surprise for ENERTRAG South Africa,
however, who have been testing the province’s wind resources
since the company first arrived in the country in 2017.
The data collected from multiple meteorological measurement
masts (met masts) confirm that the province has enough wind to
make wind farms viable. The
wind may not be as strong as
that experienced in coastal
provinces, but it is steady.
Peter Venn, Seriti Green’s CEO,
told Business Day in 2023 that
the very large turbines that his
company will use will operate
at a capacity of about 40%,
significantly better than solar,
which operates below 30%.
ENERTRAG South Africa
makes the point that the
current environment is creating
an active offtakers market
among Energy Intensive Users
(EIUs) and no place is better
equipped to service that market
and to facilitate wheeling than
the Mpumalanga province,
eMalahleni in particular.
Wheeling is getting power
from a generator to an enduser
located in another area
through existing distribution or
transmission networks.
A meteorological measurement
mast for collecting wind data.
Credit: ENERTRAG
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MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2023/24