by Staffwriter

The Power and Electricity World Africa expo is back after an absence of three years. Although it was a smaller version than previous events, it was nonetheless extremely popular judging by the long queues at registration and the crowds in the exhibition area and at presentation venues. Crowds were so large that some exhibitors ran out of brochures on the first day.

The event, which ran from 23 to 24 August 2022 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, the featured 217 exhibitors over two floors comprising Power and Electricity World Africa (PEWA) and the Solar Show exhibitions. The theme for this year’s event was “Innovation, Investment, Infrastructure – Energy for the people”.

It was different to previous events: instead of major speaker events, 50 hours of panel sessions and individual presentations and interviews over four tracks were offered, featuring over 200 speakers, located at theatre venues within the exhibition area.

Presentations covered a wide variety of topics focusing on solar technology, storage and installation and the grid, as well as commercial, and industrial energy utilisation.

Eskom interview

Of particular interest was an interview with Eskom’s chief operations officer, Jan Oberholzer.

Oberholzer said that Eskom faces challenges in three areas: operational, financial and the national grid.

The age and condition of existing coal fired-power stations is a problem, he said. Fifteen of these power stations are not performing to standard and the two new coal-fired plants still suffer from latent defects. Much of the existing plant has been run for long periods at high utilisation factors, resulting in unreliability and high risk of failure. While there are plenty of qualified staff at Eskom, few have the necessary experience, which leaves the utility with insufficient experienced and competent staff to ensure reliable operation of the fleet.

On the financial side, he said, the biggest problems are the utility’s R400-billion debt load and cash-flow. While it is possible that National Treasury will assist with the debt, the cash flow problem, which results from the R50-billion outstanding arrear debt owed by municipalities, remains. It has been estimated that the utility would need about R990-billion to decommission and replace existing coal-fired power plants, Oberholzer said.

The use of renewables is restrained by the capacity of the grid to transport power from remote prime solar and wind sites to load centres. There is also the mistaken assumption that solar resources close to load centres is too low to use. Solar could be utilised effectively closer to load centres and existing generation sites, he added. Eskom owns large tracts of land around existing generation centres, which could house solar power systems with direct connection to the grid. Eskom will lease this land to IPPs, which would help to reduce the need to upgrade existing transmission systems.

According to Oberholzer, 60 GW of wind and solar need to be added to replace retiring coal-fired power stations if a capacity factor of 30% is assumed. No mention was made of the amount of storage required to make the 60 GW perform like 18 GW of dispatchable power. Extensions to the grid will be essential if we are to accommodate new renewable energy systems, and 8000 km of transmission lines and 12 new substations comprising 100 transformers, will be required to transport additional power to load centres, he said.

Other speakers agreed that a mixture of generation technologies is required to ensure security of supply, and that dispatchable baseload power is essential. Hybrid systems with wind/solar/storage are considered to be necessary to ensure dispatchability. Nuclear is also regarded as an essential component of future low carbon generation.

Startup zone

An interesting feature was the startup zone, which allocated a small wall and countertop space to startup exhibitors allowing small businesses to participate. 

The main items on display were small power systems for home and small businesses, in the range up to10 kW capacity, consisting of solar PV, inverters and storage systems plus other auxiliary items. This is a sector of the industry that has matured and a large number of fully developed elegant systems were on display, a far cry from early home power systems that were assembled from individual components. The consumer now has access to a wide range of systems that consist of matched plug and play components.

Noticeable were the large number of home battery systems, most available in designer wall or floor cabinets, with capacities up 25 kWh in a single unit, all equipped with display panels and monitors. The main battery technology used is Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4). There is no longer a single source of home battery storage systems in the market, and the customer can choose between a wide range of elegant home storage systems.

Unfortunately, very little of the home power system is manufactured locally. Several battery systems are assembled locally from imported cells, with locally manufactured charge controllers and monitoring systems. An interesting battery feature is second life batteries which reconfigures end-of-life EV batteries for stationary use. None of the home power inverter systems are manufactured locally, which is a pity since the units are uncomplicated and use basic electronic components.

Solar PV and local manufacture

The focus on solar PV was mainly on large bifacial panels in the 500 to 600 W range. There are two local companies assembling solar panels using imported wafers. One of the companies had planned to set up wafer production a few years ago, but this was delayed by the Covid pandemic. According to a representative of the company, the plan for the manufacture of rectangular wafers is in the pipeline. This will be an interesting development to watch. If it materialises, it will open the door to local assembly and/or manufacture. It was mentioned by several other exhibitors that the quality of some locally produced panels is questionable, making it difficult to obtain finance for projects using these panels.

The general consensus amongst exhibitors was that a definite policy decision is needed from government before local manufacture will become viable. With the right policy in place, local manufacture of a number of components could take place. Policy on local content is essential.

Overall the event successfully provided a mix of exhibition viewing and presentations that met the need for knowledge of new developments and directions that the industry is taking.

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