South Africa Goes Nuclear

South Africa expects six new nuclear power plants along with renewable energy to play a part in providing energy to the country. The government is looking to reduce its dependence on coal-fired plants and nuclear energy is just one of the sources it plans to use.

In a draft of South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2), a 20-year electricity capacity program, the government proposed that coal’s contribution should drop to 48% according to a Reuters report.

Instead of coal, the government sees nuclear supplying 14% of the country’s energy mix by 2030 and renewable energy supplying 16%. The rest of its electricity capacity would come from open cycle gas turbines, pump storage schemes, and imported power generated from hydroelectric plants.

Nuclear currently supplies 1,800 MW or 6% of the country’s power.

According to the recently released IRP draft the government expects six 1,600 MW of capacity by nuclear plants coming onstream between 2023 and 2029.

The government’s plan estimates another 52,248 MW would be needed on top of its current supply to meet fast-rising demand.

The estimates are based on annual gross domestic product growth of 4.6%.