WORKING FOR ENERGY

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MULTIPLE BENEFITS TO TRANSPORT ENERGY RESEARCH

SANEDI highlighted its extensive work in researching the correlation between transport energy demands, electrical vehicles and other green transport issues, as well as the benefits of the research to the country in May, in recognition of National Energy Month in South Africa.

SANEDI, in conjunction with the Energy Research Centre (ERC) at the University of Cape Town, conducted a threeyear research project into transport energy demand, with the main aim of the study being to investigate the impact of electric vehicle penetration into the South African market.

Key to this study was the collection of the data on the transport and energy situation in South Africa, which was completed at the end of March 2019. Multiple pockets of data were found on transport and energy, at Eskom, the Department of Transport (DoT), the departments of Environmental Affairs, Energy, and Economic Development, the CSIR, UCT’s ERC, other universities and various research institutions. The main issue in the research was not data availability but data access.

SANEDI believes that multiple organisations will benefit from the data bank. First would be the DoT, as the study is aligned to the green transport strategy, which has targets for different types of reduction in energy consumption, including rail and road transport. This study will enable the DoT to align or revise its green transport strategy because some of the project’s analysis used DoT’s targets as a benchmark.

The DTI’s low carbon transport programme will also benefit. The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and DTI are interested in the

feasibility of electric vehicles, when they would enter the market, what were the implications if electric vehicles penetrated the market and the knock-on effect on jobs, mechanics and the road transport sector value chain. Research institutions have expressed interest as the study is built on a previous study that collected data for South Africa’s transport sector. It builds on the collected data on sales of liquid fuels and data on freight, road and air transport. All data will also be made available in the public domain once published.

SANEDI is proud to have increased the knowledge of available energy resources that can enrich South Africa’s move to green transport.

The need for improved energy efficiency in the aviation and transportation sector in Africa and the need for digital transformation is urgent as the continent is home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world. One aspect is electric vehicles, which make sense economically, especially when viewed over the life cycle of the car. The initial cost is outweighed by no services and a replacement of a battery every couple of years. Their energy efficiency is further improved by the fact that the vehicles are mostly solar powered, thus reducing electricity usage. Already carparks are installing electrical vehicle charging outlets.

According to the World Resources Institute Climate Analysis Indicator Tool, South Africa’s greenhouse gas profile is dominated by emissions from the energy sector, which accounted for 84% of the country’s total emissions in 2012. Of this, 60% of the emissions were due to electricity and heat, 15% from manufacturing and construction, 12% from transport and the balance from other energy subsectors. This makes the diversification of the national energy portfolio critical.

Walk, cycle or take the bus for cleaner mobility

SANEDI supported South Africa’s Transport Month in October and encouraged South Africans to embrace cleaner mobility by walking, cycling and using public transport.

SANEDI’s role includes investigating and demonstrating alternative ways of mobility that will lead to the improvement of the environmental, social and economic conditions. The Institute informs and communicates the world’s success stories and its own findings to stakeholders and the public, to motivate changes in policy and a change in behaviour. Transportation of goods and mobility of people are fundamental to the economy of South Africa. Over the years, transportation systems have grown and the exhaust emissions are polluting the air, placing people’s health at risk and compromising the climate. Other risks include the instability of the oil price and depletion of the world’s petroleum supplies.

SANEDI’s Cleaner Mobility Programme is partnered with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Low Carbon Transport Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to promote energy efficient, low-carbon transport and urban systems. The project supports government in demonstrating new sustainable transport technologies and conducting research to inform the development and improvement of regulatory frameworks for inclusive cleaner mobility solutions. The UNIDO Project also creates platforms for institutional capacity building.

SANEDI participates and supports solutions that are clean in terms of exhaust emissions, efficient in terms of energy consumption and fit for purpose in terms of mobility objective, which are being developed around the world. These include the International Energy Association’s (IEA) Implementing Agreement on ‘Hybrid and Electric Vehicles’, the Clean Energy Ministerial ‘Electric Vehicle Initiative’, the European Commission, Conference of the Parties (COP), and UNIDO.

The South African Green Transport Strategy is aiming to achieve a tangible impact by 2030 by relating to international commitments such as the Paris Agreement and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

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SACCCS joins Global CCS Institute to tackle climate change

CO 2 capture

CO 2 transport

CO 2 storage

The South African Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage (SACCCS), a division of SANEDI, became a proud member of the Global CCS Institute in August 2019, joining the organisation’s diverse international membership of about 70, which includes governments, global corporations, private companies, research bodies and non-governmental organisations, all of which are committed to CCS as an integral part of a net-zero emissions future.

Global CCS is an international think tank dedicated to accelerating the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), recognised as a vital technology to tackle climate change and deliver climate neutrality. CCS technology has been tested and demonstrated globally and is being successfully implemented in many projects around the world. SACCCS is mandated to investigate the technical feasibility of CCS in this country. To guide CCS research in South Africa, a five-stage CCS Roadmap was developed, which was endorsed by Cabinet in 2012.

South Africa’s CCS Roadmap started in 2004, with

extensive assessment of the potential for CCS. In 2010,

it incorporated the development of an atlas of geological

storage of CO 2 and the current phase is the SACCCS Pilot Carbon Dioxide Storage Project (PCSP) with the aim to

inject 10-50 000 tons of CO 2 .

The move to membership of Global CCS will enhance the activities of SACCCS, which has received much benefit from Global CCS, including financial support for some of the CCS work in South Africa. The implementation of PCSP will be a proof of concept

for CCS in South Africa. The Pilot CO 2 Monitoring Project (PMP) was implemented to build capacity in CO 2 monitoring. An additional aim of the PMP is to come up

CCS Roadmap.

One of the requirements of implementing the PCSP

is that baseline monitoring must be done at the site

identified for the project before, during and after

construction, to ensure that there are no CO 2 leaks from the geological formation.

This is being conducted at a natural CO 2 release area in Bongwana in KwaZulu-Natal, and so far, atmospheric,

water and soil CO 2 levels have been monitored throughout the different seasons.

In preparation for the PCSP and other stages of the

CCS Roadmap, a Carbon Capture Pilot Plant (CCPP) is

being investigated, the first stage of which is a technical

assessment supported by the World Bank. The aim of

the project is to establish a post-combustion CO 2 Capture Plant at a coal-fired power plant.

The South African government has pledged to reduce

its total CO 2 emissions and several strategies have been proposed to achieve these targets, including energy

efficiency, renewable energy, nuclear, cleaner mobility and carbon capture and storage.

In sheer volume terms, CCS deserves a lot of attention and is poised to grow, keeping South Africa in the mainstream global climate change circles.

About CCS

Carbon capture and storage is an internationally tried

and tested technology to mitigate CO 2 emissions into the atmosphere with a history going back more than

45 years. Today there are 51 large-scale CCS facilities around the world, of which 19 are in operation, 10 are in advanced development, 18 in early development, and four are under construction.

The facility must be designed to accommodate South African conditions, which includes low water consumption, use of renewable energy in order to reduce the energy penalty on the host plant, and be used as a capacity building facility for the country. SANEDI participated at an international Post-Combustion Capture Retrofit Workshop held at the University of Sheffield in April 2019.

SANEDI hosts the biennial CCS conferences that assist in updating stakeholders on progress, while also giving them an opportunity to engage with CCS experts on the benefits and challenges of the CCS technology. Six conferences have been hosted successfully, with the last one having taken place in February 2020.

SANEDI will continue to work with the Global CCS Institute to drive the adoption of CCS as quickly and cost effectively as possible to ensure that this this vital CCS is one of the options of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) in its tool-kit to address global climate change.

The technology involves four stages – capture of carbon dioxide, transport to a suitable storage site, usually by pipeline, injection into an appropriate geological storage site, usually 1-2 km deep, and monitoring and verification to ensure safety and permanent storage.

The International Energy Agency has shown that stabilising the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere would globally be less expensive if CCS was included in the menu of options to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions. Since the Paris Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) that set a target of significantly less than 20C, it is apparent that such a target cannot be achieved globally without CCS.

The technology involves four stages:

1

Capture – of carbon dioxide from the emissions of inter alia; industry, synthetic fuel production and electricity generating stations

3

2

Transport – to a suitable storage site, usually by pipeline

4

Injection – into an appropriate geological storage site, usually 1-2 km deep

Monitoring and Verification – to ensure safety and permanent storage

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COOL

SANEDI AIMS FOR TOP PRIZE IN GLOBAL COOL ROOFS CHALLENGE

The 1 Million Cool Roofs Challenge is a $2 million global competition to rapidly scale up the deployment of highly solar-reflective ‘cool’ roofs in developing countries suffering heat stress and lacking widespread access to cooling services.

SANEDI is one of ten global teams awarded a $100 000 grant by the Challenge to deploy solar reflective coating and / or materials between August 2019 and December 2020.

Following the grant awards, in 2021 a cash prize of $1 million (over R15.6 million) will be awarded to the team that has demonstrated the best sustainable and transferable model for rapid deployment of cool roofs and best meets the judging criteria. Materials must also meet minimum performance standards and be applied to roofs of buildings regularly occupied by people.

SANEDI together with the South African government have been championing cool surfaces technology, though it competes with other national concerns and budget investment has been limited. The grant is impacting the uptake and promotion of cool surfaces. According to SANEDI, reflective roof surfaces not only have an impact on individual buildings, but deploying them across a whole community can have a net effect on reducing local ambient temperatures. The deployment of reflective materials also creates sustainable job and skills opportunities for low skilled workers in both rural and urban contexts. The large cash prize for the challenge is a strong indication of the conviction the organisers have in cool surfaces to address environmental concerns and will allow for substantial progress.

Cooling 5000+ people Cool Roofs is an inexpensive, effective, passive energy, low tech cooling intervention, which allows less heat into the building, making non-air-conditioned homes, warehouses and other buildings much cooler, also extending the lifespan of the roof and equipment on it. Based on the census of SANEDI’s previous project, this completed project should benefit a conservative estimate of 500 total dwellings and 385 extensions and backyard additions. Taking all beneficiaries into account and recognising that occupancy is not fixed in all buildings, an estimated 5 223 people will benefit.

Reducing CO 2 emissions The cooling effects vary city by city, but studies indicate a cooling potential from 2-4 degrees Celsius. The whitening of 100 m 2 of grey roofing cancels the warming effect of 10 tons of CO 2 emissions (or 0.6 tons per year for the life of the roof). Globally, this cancels 500 medium-sized coal power stations’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions.

Local employment SANEDI will provide energy efficiency awareness training to the communities for their buy-in. The project is working with local municipality authorities to coat about 25 000 m 2 of roof area, with unemployed local residents trained, certified, and employed to apply the specialised coating.

A professional labour management company is overseeing the application and a post-implementation measurement and verification to assess beneficiary satisfaction, technology efficacy and longevity will be conducted and analysed data will be made available.

About Million Cool Roofs The Million Cool Roofs Challenge is a project of the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (K-CEP), in collaboration with the Global Cool Cities Alliance, Sustainable Energy for All and Nesta’s Challenge Prize Centre.