MONITORING RENEWABLE ENERGY PERFORMANCE OF POWER PLANTS Tracking progress of 2017 (Issue 11) March 2018
Contents Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations... 3 GLOSSARY... 3 ABBREVIATIONS... 4 1. Rationale of Monitoring Renewable Energy Performance of Power Plants... 5 2. Renewable Energy Support in South Africa... 5 3. Implementing Policy for Accelerating Renewable Energy Deployment... 6 3.1. Ministerial Determinations... 6 3.2. Competitive Bidding of Renewable Energy... 6 4. Status of Depart of Energy Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme... 8 5. Energy Production of Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme Projects... 10 6. Estimated costs of energy of DoE IPPs in 2017... 12 7. Economic Benefits of the Renewable Power Plants under the Department of Energy Procurement Programme... 13 8. Renewable Energy Power Plants not part of the Department of Energy s Procurement Programme... 14 9. Concluding Remarks... 16 APPENDIX A: Geographical location of DoE IPP Projects in South Africa... 17 APPENDIX B: List of all DoE IPPs in Commercial Operation... 18 2
Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations GLOSSARY BID WINDOW Means any of the procurement phases under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme of the Department of Energy. ENERGY REGULATOR Means the regulatory authority established as a juristic person in terms of Section 3 of the National Energy Regulator Act, 2004 (Act No. 40 of 2004). GOVERNMENT Means the Government of the Republic of South Africa, and any of its departments, agencies or other entities that it manages or controls. GIGAWATT HOUR Energy unit in which electricity consumption is measured. 1GWh = 1000MWh. INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER (IPP) IPPs are defined as typically limited-liability, investor-owned enterprises that generate electricity either for bulk sale to an electric utility or for retail sale to industrial or other customers with certain conditions. MEGAWATT HOUR Energy unit in which electricity consumption is measured. 1MWh = 1000kWh. MINISTER Means Minister of Energy RENEWABLE ENERGY (from the 2003 White Paper on Renewable Energy) Renewable energy harnesses naturally occurring non-depletable sources of energy, such as solar, wind, biomass, hydro, tidal, wave, ocean current and geothermal, to produce electricity, gaseous and liquid fuels, heat or a combination of these energy types. 3
ABBREVIATIONS BW CF COD COP CSP DoE IPP IRP MW MWh NERSA RE GWh Bid Window Capacity Factor Commercial Operation Date Conference of Parties Concentrated Solar Power Department of Energy Independent Power Producer Integrated Resource Plan Megawatt Megawatt hour National Energy Regulator of South Africa Photovoltaic Renewable Energy Gigawatt hour 4
1. Rationale of Monitoring Renewable Energy Performance of Power Plants In terms of section 4 of the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act No. 40 of 2006) ('the Act' or the ERA ), the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) has a mandate to 'establish and manage monitoring and information systems and coordinate the integration thereof with other relevant information systems'. The Renewable Energy (RE) Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are required to submit reports on their monthly energy production, pursuant to section 15 of the Grid Connection Code for Renewable Energy version 2.9 of 2016. 2. Renewable Energy Support in South Africa The development and implementation of RE in South Africa is governed by existing policies in the energy sector. These are outlined in Table 1. Table 1: Policies promoting renewable energy Policy Brief Description 2003 White Paper on Renewable Energy Set a target of 10 000GWh by 2013 to be sourced from various renewable energy technologies Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2010-2030 It is currently being updated. Outlines the preferred energy mix aimed at ensuring that the electricity demand is met over the 20-year planning period South Africa launched the Green Economy Accord 1 at the Conference of Parties (COP17) Launched in November 2011 in Durban at the COP17 Aimed at creating 300 000 new jobs by 2020 in economic activities as diverse as energy generation and manufacturing. The other objective was to ensure that there are farming activities to provide feedstock for biofuels, soil and environmental management and ecotourism. In May 2011, the Department of Energy (DoE) gazetted the Electricity Regulations on New Generation Capacity (Regulations) under the National Energy Regulator Act, 2004 (Act No. 40 of 2004) (ERA). The ERA and Regulations enable the Minister of Energy to make Determinations in consultation with NERSA. In the Regulations, Eskom is designated as the buyer of power from IPPs. The National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 sanctioned in 2012 also supports the development of RE as planned in the IRP2010 2030 of the country. Among some of 1 http://www.gov.za/south-africas-green-economy-accord, Accessed online 20 July 2017 5
its goals, it identifies the need for South Africa to invest in economic infrastructure that is aimed at supporting South Africa s medium and long-term economic and social objectives. As the heart of economic development, energy plays an important role in ensuring that the economic growth plans set out by the country are realised. 3. Implementing Policy for Accelerating Renewable Energy Deployment 3.1. Ministerial Determinations The implementation of the promulgated IRP2010 2030 was carried out using Ministerial Determinations, which are regulated by the Regulations. To date, the Minister of Energy has made four Determinations for RE, including the 2015 Solar Park Determination, and these are listed in Table 2. Table 2: RE IPP determinations Determination Capacities (MW) 2011 Renewable IPP 3 800 2012 Renewable IPP 3 200 2015 Renewable IPP 6 300 2015 Solar Park 1 500 Total 14 800 3.2. Competitive Bidding of Renewable Energy From 2011, the DoE has procured 6 427MW of RE in Bid Windows (BWs) 1 to 4, including a dedicated Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) BW, and two separate BWs intended for small-scale projects. Figure 1 summarises the capacities procured for the six BWs procured including submission dates. 6
Figure 1: Six bid windows procured by the Department of Energy. [Data from Department of Energy]. In total, 112 IPPs have been selected from the six BWs. These 112 IPPs are located across all nine provinces with Northern, Eastern and Western Cape sharing the majority of the projects. Figure A1 in Appendix A shows the geographical location of RE projects across provinces of South Africa. Table 3 shows the breakdown of procured capacity for various technologies. Significant capacities for Wind (3 367MW) and Solar Projects (2 371MW) have been procured from IPPs due to the abundance of these technologies. Table 3: Capacity Allocation for various technologies. Technology Total RE (MW) Onshore wind 3 367 Solar 2 371 CSP 600 Small hydro 19 Landfill gas 18 Biomass 52 Biogas Total (MW) 6 427 7
4. Status of Depart of Energy Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme At the end of December 2017, the total number of the Department of Energy Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer ( DoE IPP ) projects that had reached commercial operation was 63. Their total grid-capacity of DoE IPP projects was approximately 3 781MW. These projects are from BW1 (28 projects), BW2 (19 projects) and BW3 (16 projects). Figure 2 shows the annual commercial DoE IPP projects from 2013. As can be seen from the plot, the DoE IPP capacity has an increasing trajectory. In the past five years, the average annual capacity addition was approximately 756MW. Figure 2: Cumulative capacity of DoE IPP projects on 31 December 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs]. Figure 3 shows incremental DoE IPP capacity from December 2016 to December 2017, including provincial capacity. In 2017, new DoE IPP power plants added nearly 872MW of capacity to the grid. The majority of these new DoE IPP projects are wind farms. 8
Total DOE IPP capacity ~ 3781MW Figure 3: Capacity REIPP power plants per technology as of 31 December 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs] The last four projects that came online in the second half of 2017 were Loeriefontein Wind Farm (138MW), Khobab (138MW), LongYuan Mulilo De Aar Wind Farm (96.48W) and Longyuan De Aar 2 North Wind Farm (105MW), all of which are located in the Northern Cape. The afore-mentioned projects contributed approximately 509MW to the total of nearly 872MW added in 2017. Figure 4 illustrates the achieved capacity of DoE IPP for various technologies. The total DoE IPP grid capacity on 31 December 2017 reached nearly 60% of the procured capacity of 6328MW (in Table 2). Details of power plant information including CODs of all operating projects is listed in Table B1 of Appendix B. Figure 4: Incremental capacity and provincial capacity in 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs]. 9
5. Energy Production of Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme Projects In this section, the energy production of DoE IPP power plants in commercial operation is analysed, focusing on the monthly contribution of the power plants. Figure 5 shows the monthly energy production of DoE IPP power plants in 2017. The monthly energy could exceed 700GWh per month in summer season. 8 431GWh produced by DOE IPP in 2017: Energy Produced by DoE IPP power plants in 2017 -Solar 3 095GWh -Wind 4 578GWh -CSP 676GWh -Small-hydro 67GWh -Landfill 15GWh Figure 5: Monthly Energy Production of RE IPPs in 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs]. The total energy sent-out from DoE IPP projects in 2017 was nearly 8 431GWh. This energy produced was almost 2 000GWh more than in 2016. This is mainly attributed to 871MW of new capacity from RE IPP power plants in 2017. Wind power plants produced 4 578GWh of energy followed by solar Photovoltaic () with 3 095GWh. The comparison of monthly energy for the past two years is shown in Figure 6. It clear that energy produced has increased from 2016, and this is attributed to new DoE IPP projects that came online in 2017. The growth in energy production of DoE IPP projects in 2017 is approximately 23% in comparison with 2016. 10
Comparison of 2017 Monthly DoE IPP Energy with 2016 Figure 6: Comparison of Monthly Energy production in 2017 with 2016.[Data sourced from IPPs] Figure 7 below shows the energy contribution of DOE IPP projects to Eskom s daily system sent-out energy during 2017. It is evident from the plot that energy from DOE IPP projects is relatively small compared to the system send-out. According to NERSA s analysis, the contribution of REIPPP projects compared to the Eskom fleet s energy sent-out in 2017 was in 4%. Renewable Energy RE IPPP: ~ 4% of Eskom Send-Out in 2017 Figure 7: Daily energy contribution of RE on the power grid from January to December 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs and Eskom] It may be argued that the additional energy from the DoE IPPs is not needed considering the country s current excess capacity situation, but this energy is likely to help the power system in the medium to long-term, when growth in the economy resumes. 11
6. Estimated costs of energy of DoE IPPs in 2017 The energy that DoE IPPs generate and send out to the grid is priced based on the specific technology and the economics of the project. The price paid to DoE IPPs by Eskom is allocated by NERSA, based on forecast energy for a given period. In this section, the price of various types of technology is calculated based on the energy production submitted by DoE IPPs to NERSA and the average tariff of the IPP projects base dated in April 2017. It should be noted that these prices are intended to give a reasonable estimate of the cost of the energy from DoE IPPs. Payments related to curtailed energy of DoE IPPs are not included in the analysis. Figure 8 shows the calculated energy-weighted average prices of operational projects per technology for operating projects from BW1, BW2 and BW3. Figure 8: Calculated energy-weighted average prices of RE IPP projects per BW for 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs] Also shown in the plot are the calculated energy payments of DoE IPP projects for the various types of technology. It is evident from the plot that CSP s average price is still relatively high, at R3 753/MWh compared to other technologies, due to peak prices arising from use of storage in the evening periods. Solar average prices are beginning to drop, owing to BW2 and BW3 projects whose tariffs were more than 40% lower than BW1. The average price of for 2017 was R2 518/MWh. The latter average price is expected to drop even further when BW4 projects start operating i.e. April 2017. prices in BW4 are less than R1 000/MWh. The small-hydro s average price was approximately R1 470MWh and landfill gas average price nearly R1 228MWh. The total costs of the energy produced by DoE IPPs in 2017 was approximately R16.3billion. This amount is made up of R7.8 billion 12
for, R5.9 billion for wind, R2.5 billion for CSP, R99 million for small-hydro, and R18 million for landfill gas. 7. Economic Benefits of the Renewable Power Plants under the Department of Energy Procurement Programme According to Section 13 of the Implementation Agreements issued on 03 August 2011 between IPP projects and DoE, IPP projects have obligations in terms of delivering socio-economic benefits to local communities where projects are located. In November 2017, NERSA requested Socio-Economic Development (SED) information from DoE IPP projects. To date, NERSA has received 22 responses out of 47 DoE IPP project companies under operation of BW1 and BW2. However, there is continuous engagement with other RE IPPs regarding outstanding information. Table 4 shows the list of the IPPs that submitted SED information from Commercial Operation Date (COD) until the quarter ending 30 September 2017. Figure 9 shows the amount spent by the projects listed in Table 4 on SED activities. Table 4: DoE IPP power plants that submitted SED information for period ending 2017 Power Plant Technology MetroWind Van Stadens Wind Farm Dorper Wind Farm SlimSun Swartland Solar Park, Fixed C Power Plant No 1, Double axis tracking system Solar Capital De Aar, Fixed Herbert Solar Power Plant, Fixed Greefspan Lesedi, Fixed Aries Solar Facility, Fixed Khi Solar One, Tower type with storage Amakhala Emoyeni Wind Farm Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm Jeffreys Bay Wind Farm Sishen Solar Energy Facility Klipheuwel Dassiefontein Chaba Wind Farm Waainek Wind Farm Grassridge Wind Farm Kalkbult Linde Dreunberg Wind Wind CSP Wind Wind Wind Wind Wind Wind Wind 13
~R193million spent on SED Figure 9: Socio-Economic development objectives reported by 22 DoE IPP power companies from COD till 30 September 2017. [Data sourced from IPPs]. From the information submitted by these DoE IPPs, the biggest spend on SED activities was on education, amounting to R114.2 million, followed by enterprise development with R36.1million. The grand total amount spent on all SED activities by the projects was approximately R193 million. 8. Renewable Energy Power Plants not part of the Department of Energy s Procurement Programme In addition to the DoE IPP procurement programme, there are other RE power plants ( non-doe power companies ) connected to the grid. Non-DoE power companies are selling power through other incentive schemes, such as willing-seller-willing-buyer arrangements, as well as through green energy traders. Some municipalities own RE power plants connected to the grid. Table 5 lists RE non-doe power companies not under the DoE IPP programme. Their total capacity on the grid is 822.75 MW. 14
Table 5: Renewable Energy Power plant outside DoE IPP programme. # Renewable Energy Power Plant Capacity(MW) Technology /Resource type Independent Power Producers Location 1 Merino 4 Hydro Bethlehem, Free State 2 Sol Plaatjie 3 Hydro Bethlehem, Free State 3 Darlipp (Pty) Ltd * 5.2 Wind Windhoek Farm, Darling, Western Cape 4 Electrawinds * 1.8 Wind Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality 5 Mpact Piet Retief* 16 Baggase Piet Retief, Mpumalanga 6 Friedenheim Hydro Electric Power 2.5 Hydro Nelspruit, Mpumalanga Station * 7 Bronkhorstspruit Biogas Plant * 4.2 Biogas Bronkhorstspruit, Gauteng 8 AC Witcher 5.67 Biomass Eastern Cape 9 Illovo * 6.5 Bagase KZN 10 C Powerplant No. 2 (Pty) Ltd 0.477 Solar C KZN 11 L'omarins * 2.4 Hydro Western Cape Municipality Power Plants 12 Lydenburg * 2 Hydro Lydenburg Dorpsgrond 13 Piet Retief Hydro 0.6 Hydro Mkhondo Municipality 14 Clanwilliam Hydro Power Station* 1.5 Hydro ClanWilliam, Western Cape ESKOM Power Plants 15 Gariep Hydro 360 Hydro Norvalsport/Between Free State & Northern Cape 16 Vanderkloof Hydro 240 Hydro Petrusville/Between Free State & Northern Cape 17 Transkei hydro Colleywobbles 42 Hydro Mbashe River/ Eastern Cape 18 Transkei Hydro First Falls * 6 Hydro Umtata River/ Eastern Cape 19 Transkei Hydro Second Falls 11 Hydro Umtata River/ Eastern Cape 20 Ncora Hydro * 2.1 Hydro Umtata River/ Eastern Cape 21 Sere Wind Farm * 105.8 Wind Western Cape Total Capacity (MW) 822.75 Note: * These are power plants that reported data to NERSA in 2017. In addition to the ones listed in Table 5, the following RE power plants are under construction: Shepa Trade (Biomass 2.5MW); Green Grid Energy (Pty) Ltd (Biomass 3.6MW); and Port Elizabeth Solar 1 (Pty) Ltd (5.691MW). Figure 10 shows the reported energy production of ten renewable energy power plants listed in Table 5. These reporting power are marked with an asterisk (*) in the table. The total energy production reported by these power plants in 2017 was 361GWh. It should be noted that data for Sere wind farm in the first three months was not received for this report, hence there seems to be low energy production for those months. 15
Figure 10: Energy production of renewable energy power plants not in the DoE IPP programme. 9. Concluding Remarks On 31 December 2017, the total of number of DoE IPP and non-doe RE power projects in commercial operation was 84. The latter number includes 63 DoE IPP projects and 21 non-doe power companies. Their total achieved capacity on the grid was nearly 4 604MW. Based on energy production data submitted by DoE IPPs and non-doe power companies in 2017, the total energy produced was nearly 8 791GWh. The calculated cost of 8 431GWh produced by DoE IPP projects in 2017 was approximately R16.3 billion. Regarding SED obligations, 22 RE IPP projects that submitted information to NERSA spent R193 million on various SED components in the vicinity of their projects. From the figures submitted, R114.2 million was spent on educational activities. 16
APPENDIX A: Geographical location of DoE IPP Projects in South Africa Figure A1: Renewable Projects of BW1 to BW 4. Numbers in the location markers indicate different BWs. 17
APPENDIX B: List of all DoE IPPs in Commercial Operation Table B1: DoE IPP projects in commercial operation # Power Plant Province Technology Contracted Capacity (MW) Achieved Capacity (MW) Achieved COD 1 155 RustMo1 NW Solar 6.93 6.93 15-Nov-13 2 202 Hopefield WC Wind 65.4 65.40 01-Feb-14 3 138 MetroWind EC Wind 27 27.00 07-Feb-14 4 159 Kalkbult Solar NC Solar 72.5 72.40 19-Mar-14 5 163 Aries Solar NC Solar 9.65 9.65 20-Mar-14 6 128 Konkoonsies Solar NC Solar 9.65 9.65 20-Mar-14 7 182 De Aar (SAMR) NC Solar 45.6 45.60 05-Apr-14 8 572 Droogfontein (SAMR) NC Solar 45.6 45.40 06-Apr-14 9 696 Herbert Solar NC Solar 19.98 19.90 11-Apr-14 10 443 Greefspan Solar NC Solar 9.9 9.90 11-Apr-14 11 123 Dassieklip WC Wind 27 27.00 07-May-14 12 186 Jeffreys Bay (SAMR) EC Wind 138 135.11 15-May-14 13 031 Letsatsi FS Solar 64 64.00 21-May-14 14 032 Lesedi FS Solar 64 64.00 21-May-14 15 523 Linde NC Solar 36.8 36.80 30-Jun-14 16 052 Soutpan LP Solar 28 27.94 04-Jul-14 17 036 Nobelsfontein NC Wind 75 73.80 12-Jul-14 18 064 Mulilo de Aar NC Solar 10 10.00 19-Jul-14 19 375 Vredendal WC Solar 8.8 8.80 31-Jul-14 20 764 Upington Solar NC Solar 8.9 8.90 31-Jul-14 21 043 Dorper EC Wind 97.53 97.53 09-Aug-14 22 564 Solar Capital de Aar NC Solar 75 75.00 15-Aug-14 23 444 Reisa Kathu NC Solar 75 75.00 15-Aug-14 24 035 Witkop LP Solar 30 29.68 20-Sep-14 25 065 Mulilo Prieska NC Solar 20 19.93 01-Oct-14 26 750 Boshoff WC Solar 60 57.00 25-Oct-14 27 225 Cookhouse EC Wind 138.6 135.80 19-Nov-14 28 207 Sishen NC Solar 74 74.00 29-Nov-14 29 037 Touwsrivier (C No.1) WC Solar 36 36.00 05-Dec-14 30 562 Jasper NC Solar 75 75.00 17-Dec-14 31 373 Aurora Rietvlei WC Solar 9 8.90 23-Dec-14 32 527 Dreunberg EC Solar 69.6 69.60 31-Dec-14 33 815 Kakamas Hydro NC Hydro 10 10.00 31-Jan-15 34 118 Kaxu Solar One NC CSP 100 100.00 06-Feb-15 35 148 Kouga Red Cap EC Wind 80 77.70 17-Mar-15 36 364 Grassridge EC Wind 59.8 59.80 06-Jun-15 37 309 West Coast (Aurora) WC Wind 90.82 90.82 09-Jun-15 38 164 SlimSun WC Solar 5 5.00 05-Aug-15 39 014 Gouda WC Wind 135.5 135.50 28-Aug-15 40 372 Chaba EC Wind 21 21.00 12-Sep-15 41 362 Waainek EC Wind 23.28 23.28 10-Jan-16 42 798 Khi Solar One NC CSP 50 50.00 05-Feb-16 18
Table B2: DoE IPP projects in commercial operation # Power Plant Province Technology Contracted Achieved Achieved COD Capacity Capacity 43 002 Bokpoort CSP NC CSP 50 50.00 18-Mar-16 44 168 Solar Capital De Aar 3 NC Solar 75 75.00 02-Apr-16 45 0028_004 Noupoort Wind Farm NC Wind 79.05 79.05 11-Jun-16 46 0269_002 Mulilo Sonidix NC Solar 75 75.00 22-Jul-16 Prieska 47 240 Amakhala EC Wind 137 133.70 28-Jul-16 48 490 Stortemelk NC Hydro 4.22 4.22 29-Jul-16 49 0269_003 Mulilo Prieska 4 NC Solar 75 75.00 05-Aug-16 50 303 Tsitsikamma EC Wind 94.8 93.68 17-Aug-16 51 0338_001 Tom Burke Solar Park LP Solar 64 64.00 29-Aug-16 52 0077_001 Paleisheuwel WC Solar 75 75.00 12-Oct-16 53 0024_002 Nojoli EC Wind 86.6 86.60 31-Oct-16 54 0029_001 Robinsons Deep; Goudkoppies GP Landfill 8.5 5.28 26-Nov-16; 25- Apr- 17 55 Adams Solar NC Solar 75 75.00 23-Jan-17 56 Pulida FS Solar 75 75.00 23-Jan-17 57 Red Cap Gibson Bay EC Wind 110 110.00 28-Apr-17 58 Xina Solar One NC CSP 100 100.00 01-Aug-17 60 Loriesfontein 2 Wind Farm NC Wind 138 138.00 08-Dec-17 61 Khobab Wind Farm NC Wind 136 136.00 08-Dec-17 62 Lingyuan Mulilo de Aar 2 North NC Wind 144 138.96 31-Oct-17 Wind 63 Lingyuan Mulilo de Aar NC Wind 100.5 96.48 31-Oct-17 Maanhaaberg TOTAL COMMERCIAL CAPACITY 3810.51 3780.69 19
20