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dam-l Kudu gas could supply SA/LS
This article, from the Cape Times in SA, is a few weeks old. The Kudu Gas
plant is an alternative to the Epupa dam.
MELANIE GOSLING
Environment Writer
CAPETONIANS may soon be getting cheaper, cleaner electricity with the
conversion of the Athlone power station from a coal-fired operation to a
1000 megawatt installation powered by gas from Namibia's offhsore Kudu gas
fields.
Yesterday the Metropolitan Co-ordinating Forum, made up of representatives
from all seven local authorities, voted to push ahead with a R4-million
feasibility study on the proposal.
The forum also signed a letter of intent with Shell South Africa (Pty) Ltd
yesterday outlining the Kudu Gas Cape Power Project.
Cape Town City Council's executive director of municipal services, Mike
Marsden, said if the project went ahead there were be economic benefits for
Western Cape industry and domestic consumers.
"Its not just a matter of power supply, but there are strategic
considerations. We need to ensure metropolitan Cape Town's future power
supply as we are far from the main power producers up north.
"Also, the deregulation of the electricity industry will allow competition
and is likely to result in lower tariffs. If the Kudu Gas project comes to
fruition, Capetonians will probably get cheaper electricity in a more
environmentally acceptable manner. The Athlone power station, which is
coal-fired, has some negative environmental aspects like air pollution,"
Marsden said.
Shell will pay R2-m of the cost of the feasibility studies, and the
remaining R2-m will be paid by the seven local authorities on the basis of
how much power they consume.
The feasibility study will be completed within a year, whereafter the
councillors will decide whether to go ahead with the project or not. If
they accept the proposal, the introduction of Kudu gas to the Western Cape
will take between five and six years.
"The Dutch government has sponsored a workshop in Amsterdam where our local
councillors, the future decision-makers on the Kudu gas project, will be
able to be brought up to speed on gas-fired power stations," Marsden said.
The studies to test the viability of the project will also examine the best
site for the power station.
"It will examine converting Athlone power station, but will also look at
other possible sites in undeveloped areas. If the project goes ahead, the
development costs will not be borne by the ratepayers, but by an
independent power producer as envisaged in the White Paper on energy,"
Marsden said.
Asked to comment, Eskom said metropolitan Cape Town did not need extra
power, and questioned the claim that gas supplied from Namibia would mean
cheaper electricity.
Eskom's manager of energy management, Brian Statham, said yesterday: "I
don't know why Cape Town wants to do this project. It might be from
aspirations from the local authorities to be independent of Eskom's power
supply. But Cape Town doesn't need the extra power, and whatever this
project produces will be displacing power that Koeberg produces, which will
then have to be fed back into the national grid," Statham said.
He said Eskom has been one of four parties which had signed a memorandum of
understanding on the Kudu Gas project last year with Shell, Nampower
(Namibia's electricity utility) and National Power, a British power utility
with expertise in gas-fired power stations.
"We signed the document to do a feasibility study to see if bringing Kudu
Gas to South Africa was viable. The four aspects that we looked at were
whether there was sufficient offshore gas in Namibia, whether it was
environmentally acceptable, whether it was technically feasible and whether
there was the market for more electricity.
"We all agreed on the first three, but not on the fourth regarding the
market, so the memorandum of understanding collapsed. In short, the price
of bringing gas to South Africa was too high, we didn't need the extra
power and most of the job creation would be for Namibians," Statham said.
Asked why Eskom was pushing ahead with developing "pocket nuke" power
stations - pebble bed modular reactors - if there were no market for more
electricity in South Africa, Statham replied: "These are only 100megwatt
power stations, and if we develop them we can export them, which will bring
foreign exchange and job creation to South Africa."
Eskom's decision to build pocket nukes has come under criticism, as these
power stations have been shown to be economically unviable overseas.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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