Eskom want to be solar giants, or do they?

Eskom released a press statement on Monday (see news story here) saying that they want to be solar giants. Among other things, they talk about a 100MW wind plant to be completed by 2012 and a 100MW solar thermal facility to be completed by 2015. However, beyond that they are looking at having 2000MW of solar thermal power online by 2030.

These developments will run in parallel with plans by government (DoE) to also build a 5000MW solar park by 2012. From what I heard on a radio interview, though, government is only building the park which will include infrastructure into which private companies can more easily establish privately funded solar generation facilities.

All of this is great and sounds very good, especially since we are currently reliant on coal for 90% of our electricity generation, and in their last financial year Eskom emitted 225 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

However, look back at my earlier post here, where acting chief officer of Eskom’s generation business, Dan Marokane talks about how Eskom is and will be reliant on coal for a long time to come. As he says in his article, a solar park of 100MW pales in comparison to the generation capacity of a coal plant like Kusile (4800MW).

The more recent announcement comes from Steve Lennon, managing director for corporate services at Eskom, and 2000MW of solar thermal capacity certainly does start to look like a more serious move by Eskom to commit to renewables. Let’s hope that things are moving in the right direction at the parastatal.

Ed.

Solar Science is a supplier and installer of solar water heating systems to the greater Cape Town area. Get in touch if you’re interested in a free quote.