South Africa will move ahead with a plan to add 2,500MW (2.5GW) of nuclear energy to its grid, according to Electricity Minister Kogisentsho Ramokgopa. Speaking in a press conference this morning, Ramokgopa confirmed that nuclear is on the menu for the country but also pointed out that it would be a while before we see any kind of benefit.
“We are starting the process of gazetting, so we are triggering essentially a procurement process,” said Ramokgopa. Gazetting is quite a long way from breaking ground on a nuclear facility, with the minister saying that it might be four years before the country sees any measurable difference from the plan.
Nuclear family planning
However, we should expect that the plan to add a whole new nuclear facility to the grid will take quite a bit longer. Almost a decade, according to Department of Mineral Resources and Energy director-general Zizamele Mbambo. “We found that the ideal time by which to start commissioning the first unit of this 2,500MW is around 2032/2033,” he said.
We’d expect a measured approach to any new power generation capacity, even if it’s unpleasant to have to wait in the darkness. That is doubly important when the capacity is nuclear in nature. Still, the ball for this project was supposed to have been rolling already, with the first influx of extra power starting around 2025. You might recall the Russian reactor project that was eventually killed off in court. The country appears to have moved on from that point, with additional renewable projects in the works in addition to this high-capacity but long-term project.