While it is unlikely that a full-scale cgold mining equipment in europearbon-capture and storage (CCS) project will be operational in South Africa within the next decade, such an eventuality is likely at some stage, and it is, therefore, pru-dent to prepare and to configure a state of ‘country readiness’.
This has emerged from the recently released draft report, ‘Carbon Capture and Storage Research Roadmap’, compiled by the South African National Energy Research Institute (Saneri), based on inputs it received during a conference and workshop it hosted in February.
This ‘readiness’ would extend to coal, which, the report says, is South Africa’s main economically usable indigenous energy resource currently, with other fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, scarce in this country.
Saneri notes that the two other forms of energy, nuclear and renewables, are being expanded but are currently insufficient to replace coal in terms of cost and technology.
It adds that energy sources like renewables should be rapidly developed to a point where they can take over from fossil fuels in an ‘orderly’ manner.
The report says that, similar to many other countries in the world, South Africa is reliant on fossil fuels for most of its primary energy supply, with about 89% of primary energy being derived from fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), and the absolute amount likely to increase with the advent of new coal-fired electricity-generating stations and new coal- and gas-to-liquids fuels plants.
Notwithstanding the increas-ing use of renewable energies and energy-efficiency measures, international organisations of repute have forecast increased worldwide use of fossil fuels over the next few decades, says the report.
It adds that South Africa, as a coal-based energy economy, is similarly positioned, with new coal-fired electricity-generation stations and synthetic-oil plants currently being constructed or planned.
Owing to the complicated issue of climate change, part of the answer lies in carbon capture and storage, it asserts.
South Africa is a Non-Annex I member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. As such, it has no obligation to reduce greenhouse-gas emis-sions. But national policy encour-ages all efforts to mitigate such emissions, and the coun-try is coming under ever-increas-ing pressure to decrease green-house-gas emissions. It is, therefore, prudent for South Africa to consider all options to reduce carbon emissions, including CCS, the report says.
It notes, however, that sig-nificant development work needs to be undertaken before a commercial CCS project could be operational in South Africa. The purpose of such work will be to produce sufficient information specific to South African conditions that would enable a company to make a decision regarding the implementation of CCS initiatives on commercial scale.
This information will be in addition to the observance of something like a full-size electricity-generation plant incor-porating CCS elsewhere in the world. Further, the report asserts, human capacity needs to be developed in order that suf-ficient expertise is present to overcome any barriers that might present themselves.
Although CCS is a new tech-nology, it is based on existing and proven processes that have been in operation for a few decades. However, the report says that there are a number of barriers to commercial uptake that need to be dealt with, such as disagreement on the methods that should be employed, with some sectors seeing CCS merely as being aimed at justifying the continued use of fossil fuels.