Gas a 'viable alternative' to costly nuclear power

SOUTH Africa should look to the use of gas produced by the extensive gas fields in Angola and Mozambique rather than to nuclear energy to meet its electricity supply needs‚ the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry said yesterday.

This was in response to the announcement by President Jacob Zuma in his state of the nation address the government would forge ahead with the procurement of nuclear energy. Procurement processes for this would be fast-tracked, he said.

But chamber president Janine Myburgh said it would be a mistake to look to nuclear power as the answer to South Africa's energy problems. She pointed out that it took a long time to build nuclear power stations and most of the costs were incurred during construction.

"This means borrowing enormous sums of money to finance nuclear builds. Eskom is already in financial trouble because it has too much debt. Adding to the debt bundle will not help and with the country's credit rating on the slide‚ financing nuclear power would be almost impossible."

Eskom was already rationing electricity supplies to the mines and to the big industrial users and relief was needed sooner rather than later. Chairman of the chamber's industrial focus portfolio committee Peter Haylett also pointed out that paying foreign suppliers for nuclear power stations would see money leaving the country "in the context of an existing and deteriorating balance of payment problem".

He believed that investing in gas power stations made more sense as capital costs were much lower and they could be built in two to three years compared with eight to 10 for nuclear power stations.

"We can obtain gas from Angola and Mozambique until our own gas sources are developed and this means that the money we spend on gas stays in the regional economy and much of it will come back to us as neighbouring countries buy our goods and services. Money spent on nuclear plants will leave this country for distant shores and not much of it will come back to us‚" Haylett said.

But yesterday, Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said the nuclear option was now a certainty.

Speaking at a New Age Business Breakfast, Joemat-Pettersson said: "Nuclear will be used. This certainty has been lacking until now."

She was referring to Zuma's state of the nation address.

In his speech Zuma identified solving the energy issue as being central to the country's future economic growth.

He said: "This situation calls for a radical transformation of the energy sector to develop a sustainable energy mix that comprises coal‚ solar‚ wind‚ hydro‚ gas and nuclear energy.

"The transformation will require structural changes in the manner in which government departments‚ affected state- owned companies and the industry as a whole address the energy challenges.

"Nuclear has the possibility of generating well over 9000 megawatts‚ while shale gas is recognised as a game changer for our economy‚" Zuma said. – BDlive