Renewable energy alone insufficient for energy needs
Coal remains crucial to global energy security.
Managing Director of mining investment firm Menar Vuslat Bayoglu has said that renewable energy was not the panacea to South Africa's electricity crisis due to technological constraints for storage and baseload requirements.
Speaking at the Coal and Energy Transition Day conference in Johannesburg on 27 July 2022, Bayoglu said, baseload generation would still need either coal, gas, oil or nuclear. "We need to have this discussion rationally and not behave like cult members, as if it’s a religious topic," Bayoglu said. "We need to leave out our emotional biases and concentrate on the scientific and economic facts in relation to baseload."
He noted that the reopening of coal-fired power plants in Europe was driving demand for coal as the continent needed secure and reliable sources of energy. Since 1985 until the present, coal use for energy purposes has continued to grow and currently stood at about 36% of all energy production worldwide, said Bayoglu as he pointed to the data.
“The graph showed that global economic growth was closely linked to coal usage. Energy is very important and it is in South Africa’s national security interest to protect this source of power generation," he said. "Coal is very important to energy security. Just look at Germany which is reliant on gas and renewables to run its power grid. When Russia started reducing gas supply it had to re-open coal power stations and now, they’re buying coal from South Africa. The same is true for Denmark, the UK, Italy and other European countries now.”
Bayoglu said it was a fantasy to think that renewables and the available battery storage technology would provide a suitable replacement for coal-fired power stations in South Africa. He pointed out that currently the biggest battery storage facility in the world is in Florida, in the United States, and it was only 409 MW. “There is talk of South Africa investing in developing 5 000 MW of battery storage. What if it doesn’t work? Can we handle more Stage 6 load-shedding or worse? We also currently have 6 000 MW of renewable energy integrated into the grid and it has done nothing to stop load-shedding. Will another addition make any difference? I have my doubts,” he said.
He added that coal miners did not produce a significant amount of carbon emissions, but this was an issue that coal power stations need to address with environmentally friendly technologies.
“Investment in clean coal technologies is what is needed to support our economic and environmental objectives,” Bayoglu emphasised.
Contact information:
Menar Corporate Communication Department
Siphiwe Tame
Tel: +27 11 783 7996
Email: pr@menar.com
