Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says Eskom’s research and development capabilities can power the utility into a green and prosperous future.
The Minister was speaking during a site visit to the power utility’s Research, Testing and Development (RT&D) Centre in Johannesburg.
“We really want to position Eskom as a leader in terms of technology innovation, so there’s a lot of investment that needs to be made in terms of research and development.
“The real advantage that Eskom has is in research, development, innovation and technology going into the future. In this area we are unmatched, and we are beginning to position ourselves.
“We will look to invest more and more of the earnings that Eskom is recording so that we go back to the glory days and in fact, surpass those,” Ramokgopa said.
Eskom’s RT&D centre provides the power utility with the capability to test, validate and scale solutions that support immediate operational needs and for the future electricity landscape.
One of those future and immediate needs is meeting emissions standards at Eskom’s coal-fired power stations.
“A number of projects are active and live in this facility, but what is more important is for us to experience for ourselves how we are going to reduce … emission levels at our power stations. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has issued those regulations, and we have every intention of complying.
“Other jurisdictions, like China and Japan, are far advanced with [emission-reducing] technology, but we are happy to have experienced first-hand that, in fact, we are also doing it.
“We have not reached commercial scale, but they are getting there slowly. The positive outcome of this is that we will be able to continue to exploit our natural endowments, which is coal as part of the broader [energy] mix and that we are able to meet our obligations with regard to emission standards, and we are able to protect lives in the immediate footprint of our various coal-fired power stations,” the Minister said.
Ramokgopa said government will “look to partner with other technology partners that are further advanced", with a view to domesticate those solutions to reduce emissions.
However, Eskom’s technological ambitions reside further than just compliance.
“Eskom must also be able to position itself to exploit our renewable energy endowments, and that’s why Eskom Green has been established.
“We are looking at opportunities with regard to green hydrogen. Part of the work that the team is doing is to do a degree of research on that.
“We are on the right path,” Ramokgopa said. – SAnews.gov.za
