Safe green energy for South Africa shanty town families

Oct 12, 2010 05:16 PM

Four thousand families in South Africa’s largest and poorest township now have safe supplies of heat and light through a green energy project.

Khayelitsha, a shanty town 30 km from central Cape Town, is home to half a million people about 40per cent of whom are children.

With no access to electricity, many families are forced to turn to firewood, coal or paraffin to heat their homes and to cook with. Fires were a constant risk.

But a backed project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the lives of vulnerable people has given 4,000 families clean sources of heat and light.

Mother of six, Nodliwa Nozipho, is one of them. Nodliwa whose husband died of Aids was given a government-subsidised house with a solar water heater, ceiling insulation and compact fluorescent light bulbs.

The domestic worker had been worried she would not be able to afford the heating bills on her salary but the new home has brought huge energy cost savings, among other benefits.

"I have also seen an improvement in the thermal performance of my house, reducing the need for indoor heating with fuels such as paraffin, which cause respiratory problems and are a fire risk," she said.

"This was a severe challenge to families when trying to heat or cool our homes. The resulting condensation in the buildings also meant that we were living with up to three litres of water dripping on our belongings every day," Nodliwa told Reuters news service.

A lack of proper ceilings and insulation meant families were spending around 10 South African rand, nearly a pound a night to heat their homes in winter, said Carl Wesselink from South South North Projects Africas’ Clean Development Mechanism.

"The condensation and warm, damp conditions also proved a breeding ground for diseases, especially tuberculosis," Wesselink said.

The project was set up under the Kyoto Protocol, and international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It has meant families in Khayelitsha, have not only managed to cut their electricity costs by 35 per cent a year, but are also doing their bit to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Their new homes are five per cent warmer in winter and five per cent cooler in summer, allowing a saving of up to 40 percent on electricity bills, he added. They also cut down air pollution, helping prevent pulmonary pneumonia, carbon monoxide poisoning and other respiratory illnesses. And there has been a drop in the number of fatal fires in the area.

http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/charity-news/safe-green-energy-for-south-africa-shanty-town-families

Cape Business News

Energy Efficiency Forum Launched

The South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA), working in collaboration with the South African Council for Shopping Centres (SACSC), Eskom and the City of Cape Town is launching a new Energy Efficiency Forum for commercial property owners and managers on 21 October at the Civic Centre in Cape Town.

This forum is also supported by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA), Provincial Government of the Western Cape and Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). 

The Energy Efficiency Forum aims to provide owners and managers of offices, shopping centres, hotels and other commercial and public buildings with practical knowledge on energy efficiency solutions, and will also serve as a platform for collective action and shared learning.

Vuyani Hako, Chairman of the SAPOA Western Cape region says, “Energy efficiency has become increasingly critical in the context of rising electricity tariffs and a medium-term shortage of supply. The economic recession, forthcoming legislation and the need to reduce environmental impact are also important considerations that call for a concerted effort towards finding solutions and working with other commercial property owners to improve energy efficiency.”

The formation of the Energy Efficiency Forum follows a recent SAPOA workshop, held in September 2009. This workshop was well attended, with excellent participation from commercial property delegates. And it was here that it was decided that there is a definite need for a regular forum to address energy efficiency issues and provide ongoing education on energy related matters.

http://www.cbn.co.za/print/daily/4169.html

SA city makes top ten list

September 08 2008 at 01:54PM

By Lindsay Dentlinger Cape Town has been named as among the top 10 cities in the world on track to become a global sustainable centre by 2020. The Ethisphere Institute on Monday ranked Cape Town among the cities which appear to be environmentally and economically sustainable and provides its citizens with a healthy quality of life. It is the only city in South Africa and the continent to make the list from an final shortlist of 20.  The other cities are Toronto, Hyderabad, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, New York, London, Frankfurt, Curtiba and Melbourne. The Ethisphere Institute says the cities were chosen because they are large, cosmopolitan and economically significant centres which are preparing for the future, today.  "In a world of increasing population pressures and depleting natural resources, some cities are proactively adjusting their practices today, as well as implementing sustainable long-term practices," said Alex Brigham, executive director of The Ethisphere Institute.   "We are recognising these 'cities of tomorrow' today."  The Ethisphere Institute is a think tank dedicated to the research and promotion of profitable best practices in governance, business ethics, compliance and corporate social responsibility.   To determine which cities qualified, Ethispace weighted several factors including economies and populations - qualifying cities had to have a population over 600 000. Cultural activities, universities and international acclaim were also taken into account to make sure the global sustainable centres were relevant and significant around the world.  They also needed a plan in place to shift to an environmentally sustainable path so that by 2020 they will be sustainability role models. Cape Town has received acclaim for its energy plan developed in 2004 to help meet the growing energy needs of the city. This includes aiming to have 10 percent of homes using solar power by 2020, as well as to have 10 percent of the city's energy consumption coming from renewable sources in the same timeframe. Among Cape Town's strengths is being a top tourist destination in the world. "Cape Town is enjoying economic growth that will likely continue through 2020 and beyond," says the report.  The Fifa World Cup in 2010 has been credited with jumpstarting Cape Town's sustainability goals.  But researchers also highlighted challenges for Cape Town, with poverty cited as the most notable.  "While much of the city is developing nicely, a good chunk of it remains in squalor conditions. This is a major obstacle," says the report. http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=14&art_id=vn20080908115425752C307063

The Poor Fly Under the Solar Water Heating Radar
Gail Jennings
CAPE TOWN, Oct 12 (IPS/IFEJ) -

Earlier this year, IPS reported that the South African coastal city of Cape Town was debating a "first of a kind" bylaw that would make solar water heating compulsory for relatively costly new buildings, and certain renovations. This got us thinking: what of solar water heating for less expensive structures -- especially homes being built under the country's extensive low cost housing programme...Are any initiatives on the drawing board in this regard?

Since coming to power in 1994, the African National Congress government has spearheaded the building of low cost, subsidised houses to overcome the homelessness created by apartheid. However, many of these structures are what is termed "core houses", meaning they lack flooring, geysers and other amenities. Solar water heaters (SWHs) can be somewhat expensive to install; but this cost is normally recovered within a few years through energy savings that continue long after the units are paid for. The heaters can provide an environmentally friendly source of hot water for low income housing residents, and cut their household water heating bills in the long run -- good news all round, surely, especially if financial aid were provided to help people get a foot on the SWH ladder. Not necessarily, it seems. Low energy usage "Generally, people living in low income households don't spend enough money on energy for water heating," Andrew Janisch of Sustainable Energy Africa, a Cape Town-based consultancy, told IPS. "As a result, the saving from using solar energy for this purpose would not repay the upfront cost of the solar water heater, even with attractive financing options."

A solar water heater is made up of a hot water storage tank or geyser, and a roof-mounted panel (called a "collector") that absorbs the sun's energy and uses it to heat the tank water. The cost of SWHs ranges from about 500 dollars to 2,200 dollars, depending on factors such as the volume of the tank and the square meterage of the collector -- and whether a high pressure water flow from the tank is required for bathroom and kitchen equipment. "It's a tough issue," said a project manager at a Johannesburg-based company that is co-ordinating an initiative offering incentives for the installation of solar water heating systems in several houses for the middle and upper income brackets. "We used to look at government subsidised houses, but it was just too expensive in the greater scheme of things," the manager told IPS. "Add the cost of a geyser to the 49,000 rand (about 7,000 dollars) per house subsidy, and it would not fit the bill."

"We're still taking our lead from our previous minister of minerals and energy: she directed us not to force technologies onto low income housing," the manager added. "These things must go on the houses in Sandton to create the aspiration among low income households, was her message." (Sandton is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa's financial centre.) These observations are echoed by Peter Lukey of the chief directorate for air quality management and climate change in South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. "We must avoid the 'ghetto-ification' of renewable energy. Solar should never be seen as second class power," he told IPS. "In South Africa, we need to take into account our vulnerability to climate change, and focus on where we can make the biggest impact. It is not the poor who are polluting with their energy use -- it's middle and upper income households."

As a result, SWH initiatives remain focused on the relatively wealthy, and the downright rich. In the case of low earners, "Either the government must pay, and it's too expensive, or the individual must pay -- and it's too expensive," said Lukey. For its part, the state energy utility, Eskom, is largely focused on securing South Africa's energy supply. Demand for electricity is growing at a brisk 4.5 percent annually, and South Africa has a reserve margin of only some "7.5 percent, which is low by international standards," says Andrew Etzinger, Eskom's general manager for investment strategy. The company has little incentive to fund the provision of solar water heating to a sector of the population that is not among the country's big energy consumers. "

Eskom's primary business is not poverty alleviation, but securing energy supply to its market," noted the project manager at the firm involved with SWH incentives. Pilot projects Still, as concerns about global warming mount -- and the need grows for countries to use energy sources that don't contribute to greenhouse gas emissions -- even low cost housing will probably have to be brought in to the environmentally friendly fold. Where low cost developments have benefited from solar water heating, it has been largely under pilot projects designed to assist local authorities in reaching renewable energy targets, or because environmental impact assessments have stipulated energy efficient developments.

Cape Town, for example, has set a target of having 10 percent of all households in the city with solar water heaters by 2010 -- this in addition to the proposed bylaw. The Kuyasa Low Income Urban Housing Energy Upgrade Project in Khayelitsha, on the outskirts of Cape Town, is one step towards achieving this. This city funded project has fitted 10 houses with solar water heaters, insulated ceilings and compact fluorescent light bulbs, resulting in a 40 percent reduction in household energy costs. Cape Town has also secured an additional 4.35 million dollars from the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Western Cape provincial Department of Housing and Local Government to install solar water heaters at a further 2,300 low cost, subsidised houses. Carbon credits will cover about 15 percent of the expenses for this initiative.

The use of carbon credits occurs in terms of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which established various processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Under the CDM, industrialised nations can meet targets for greenhouse gas reductions through investing in initiatives that cut emissions in developing states; this enables the issuing of Certified Emission Reductions -- also referred to as carbon credits, which can be traded internationally. One credit is equivalent to a tonne of carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas.

Cosmo City, a new housing development in Johannesburg, has also taken steps towards SWH. The project includes 3,000 low cost homes, of which 170 have been fitted with solar water heaters at a cost to the city of some 290,000 dollars. Manda Mandavha, a project manager in Johannesburg's environmental management department, says the solar water heaters have also been used to raise awareness of climate change among residents. "We would like to install more, but we do not have the funding," he told IPS. Further use of carbon credits might, at first glance, seem an ideal way to pull in extra funding.

But this idea also stumbles on the fact that energy use by the poor is relatively low -- with investment in SWH schemes for low cost houses offering only small reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. In short, other initiatives offer more bang for the carbon credit buck. Examples elsewhere Brazil may point the way for introducing solar water heating on a large scale for low cost housing. Earlier this year, the National Agency for Electrical Energy (Agencia Nacional de Energia Electria, ANEEL), the electricity sector regulator, stipulated that all electricity utilities in this Latin American state should contribute 0.5 percent of their after tax profits to a fund that ANEEL will use to provide solar water heating for low income families.

This has increased the number of households with solar water heaters almost ten-fold. Sustainable Energy Africa is working with three urban authorities in the northern province of Gauteng, South Africa's economic hub, to establish a similar fund. "Cities are currently facilitating and endorsing solar water heating rollout business plans for their middle and high income installation programmes," explained Janisch. "Our plan is that in order for companies to receive this endorsement, certain criteria will have to be met. One of these is that a contribution is made towards a pro-poor fund that will subsidise appropriate energy interventions in low income households."

The importance of such schemes notwithstanding, Robin Thomson of Cape Town-based solar water heating company SunPower believes the pool of people who can afford SWHs may be larger than is generally assumed. The cost of a low pressure 100-litre unit with a geyser can be as low as 29 dollars a month for 24 months -- the amount many people spend on mobile phone calls, furniture and the like. "There's a big difference between low income and no income," Thomson told IPS.

(* This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS -- Inter Press Service -- and IFEJ, the International Federation of Environmental Journalists.) (END/2007)

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=39639

Dark times ahead with continued power crisis

By Cathy Dippnall

SOUTH Africa‘s power problems might continue for longer than anticipated because open-cycle gas turbines being built in Mossel Bay and Atlantis in Cape Town will not be ready for next winter. The turbines will provide an additional 1 050 megawatts of capacity. Eskom head Jacob Maroga said the opening of the additional infrastructure was behind schedule because of delays with the environmental impact assessment process.

“It was hoped that the construction and commissioning of the two plants would have been ready for winter 2008, but because of certain EIA challenges that have to be overcome, we will not be able to deliver within the time frames we had set ourselves,” Maroga said. Demand is expected to grow to 38 600MW at peak times by next winter, but consumer usage has nearly grown to that already, with Eskom announcing it had recorded its highest-ever peak demands this July, at 36 513 MW.

Eskom approved additions to double the capacity of the OCGT plants in Mossel Bay and Atlantis, which came into operation ahead of the 2007 winter deadline. Two 150MW units were added to the 450MW Gourikwa OCGT plant near Mossel Bay and five 150MW units to the 600MW Ankerlig station in Atlantis. Maroga said by winter 2008, providing enough electricity to consumers would be a challenge. “The only capacity we will be able to use between now and next winter will be a number of re-commissioned power stations we are taking out of mothballs. However, the rate of capacity is unlikely to match demand.”

Eskom is battling to supply South Africa‘s growing economy and energy demands on its own. The state- owned company has invited private sector participation. The national electricity regulator has been tasked to give its approval of partnerships with Eskom and private producers. Eskom managing director, enterprises, Brian Dames said a number of factors had been taken into account when considering the best technology to meet South Africa‘s growing energy needs. “Our decision to develop OCGT power stations was influenced by factors such as international best practice, and shorter lead and constructions times when compared to pumped storage schemes.”

In addition to supplying the extra capacity for the Western Cape, the OCGT stations would play an important role in stabilising supply to the province. Easy access to fuel was a major factor in locating the site in Mossel Bay as the plant‘s fuel is supplied by PetroSA, while the Atlantis plant is supplied by major suppliers in the Cape Town area, with fuel being transported by truck to the station.

http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n02_19092007.htm

S.Africa looks to independents to ease energy crunch
Thu 6 Sep 2007

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South African state utility Eskom will become the sole buyer of power from the nation's independent producers in a move to spur investment in power generation and ease an energy crunch, the government said on Thursday. Eskom, struggling to meet growing demand for electricity in the booming South African economy, plans to draw 30 percent of new power generation capacity from independents, government spokesman Themba Maskeo said as he announced the decision.

It will pay a market rate for the power it buys from these suppliers and guarantee the purchases. "The sense is that a lot of the major investors needed some kind of certainty that if they invest billions of rands into power generation capacity, that power will be bought," he said after a cabinet meeting in Cape Town. "Government is basically giving some confidence to the market, that if you invest billions into power generation capacity in South Africa we, as the state in the form of Eskom, will actually buy that power."

He added that the arrangement with private sector suppliers would also help to keep the cost of electricity down for consumers in Africa's economic powerhouse, where inflation is rising.
Pressure on Eskom to boost its capacity increased last year when South African cities, including the financial hub of Johannesburg and top tourist destination Cape Town, were darkened by a wave of blackouts.

The utility blamed the problems on an overloaded and ageing national power grid and said the situation should improve as it embarked on a massive multi-billion dollar upgrade of its power generating systems. A failure to provide electricity and other basic services also has been at the heart of a series of violent protests in black townships and other parts of the country, prompting the government to renew its pledges to improve service delivery.

Eskom, which relies on coal-based power stations, plans to spend 150 billion rand on improvements, which include the refurbishment of mothballed coal plants and construction of new coal and conventional nuclear facilities. South Africa's government also is pushing a project to build pebble bed modular plants, the new-generation nuclear reactors.

http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN646224.html

S.Africa's Eskom looks to nuclear plants
4 Sep 2007
By James Macharia

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's largely coal-driven power utility Eskom has hit the limits of its capacity and aims to double output by 2025, with nuclear plants supplying more than a quarter of future energy compared with 6 percent now. Eskom's Chief Executive Jacob Maroga told a coal conference on Tuesday the state-owned firm would cut back on polluting coal-fired plants that have made South Africa the world's lowest cost electricity producer.
"The issues we're faced with are costs and lead time, but the debate around global warming is key, because coal is a big contributor to carbon dioxide emissions," Maroga told the Coaltrans conference. "We can now finally say we have run out of surplus capacity."

Maroga said plans to boost output to 80,000 megawatts (MW) by 2025 would include adding 20,000 MW of nuclear-supplied energy as well as extra renewable capacity. The proportion of output from coal would fall below 70 percent by 2025 from 86 percent currently. "All over the world nuclear is coming back," he said. "Going forward the electricity prices we have will not be sustainable."

The two reactors at South Africa's Koeberg, Africa's only nuclear-fired facility, generate some 6 percent of the country's electricity, mainly used around Cape Town. Maroga said South Africa, one of the biggest producers of uranium, was building a multi-billion dollar new technology pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR), and has mooted building more conventional plants to add to Koeberg.

Eskom was currently planning to expand yearly by 4 percent, to keep up with a projected 6 percent growth in the gross domestic product of Africa's biggest economy. The company has already outlined a 150 billion rand spending programme from 2007 to 2011, with more to follow.

http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN457530.html