There is one bright spark
amongst the means of solving
SA’s electricity crisis – floating
power stations.
Because, if we leave it all up
to Eskom, we are faced with
several years of load shedding,
and we’re just going to have
to live with it, according to
Eskom CE Tshediso Matona.
It was Moneyweb reader
Simon Norton, a Cape Town
corrosion consultant, who
brought this possibility to the
publication’s attention.
And its subsequent article
said: “The energy specialists
we subsequently tested it with
confirmed that it was a real
possibility.”
The article then pointed
to the Turkish Karadeniz
Energy Group, the biggest of
a number of global suppliers
of powerships to countries
experiencing temporary
power constraints.
This it conducts through
power purchase agreements
(PPA) – where the renter of
the powership guarantees
electricity off-take at an
agreed tariff.
Also, further research
by FTW revealed these
powerships moored at one
place for an average duration
of three to five years.
For this reason, it would
make them an ideal solution
to bridge the gap until
Eskom’s long-delayed new
power plants at Medupi,
Kusile and Ingula are in full
operation.
The drawback, however, is
the delay between ordering
such powerships and their
delivery. They are former
freighters which are converted
into floating diesel power
plants, and are not necessarily
kept sitting around in stock. If
you allow for the time it would
take the DoE to “fast-track”
such a rental agreement and
the time for the acquisition
and conversion of the
necessary number, you’re
certainly looking at probably
three years minimum till the
first deliveries could be made.
So the ideal solution for
SA would seem to be not
powerships but power barges.
The only difference here
is that the barges are just
floating platforms, and have
to be towed to their intended
locations.
But these can be built
very quickly in comparison
to a powership or a landbased
plant. A 100mW gas
turbine power barge, for
example, can be built in
about three months and be
ready for deployment.
During the 1990s, power
barges became a popular
way of providing energy,
and saw them operating
as f loating power plants
for customers located in
the US, Bangladesh, the
Dominican Republic,
Brazil, Ecuador, Angola,
Nigeria, Thailand,
Ghana, as well as in the
Philippines, Jamaica,
Kenya and Malaysia.
They operate on either
liquid fuel or natural gas or
a combination of the two.
CAPTION
The Turkish Karadeniz Energy Group is the biggest global supplier of powerships to countries
experiencing temporary power constraints.
