Civil Engineering August 2022 | Vol 30 No 7

42 August 2022 Civil Engineering T he report, compiled by the South African National Energy Development Institute (Sanedi) constitutes Phase I in a roadmap towards providing an overview of the current energy carbon landscape in South Africa, the fossil fuel value chains and a high-level qualitative approach to ranking various technologies. This is followed by a discussion on the various value chain options and issues emanating from technology assessments. A number of countries, including South Africa, are set to have coal in their systems after 2050 owing to the lifespans of the newer coal-fired power stations. The report assesses the feasibility of South Africa introducing technologies to stay carbon neutral when residual anthropogenic carbon remains in the system post 2050. The world is in transition on many levels and energy is part thereof. The focus on climate change is driving key energy decisions internationally and, as always, there are trade-offs to be made in our choice of energy. This, therefore, creates an op- portunity to reflect on the future that we envisage and find the road to get there. “To facilitate these choices, this study was initiated to provide valuable insight, mainly into the available technologies for the more effective and efficient generation of power and addressing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced from these activi- ties,” says Dr Karen Surridge, Renewables Manager at Sanedi. This phase of the work by Sanedi provides three high level technology roadmaps – for power generation, liquid fuels manufacturing and transport. “These roadmaps do not dictate technology choice but provide options indicating which technolo- gies are relatively more efficient and their contribution towards GHG emissions reduction,” says Surridge. REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS The report assesses possible pathways to introduce clean coal technology as well as options for carbon abatement, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and others, at existing or new coal fired power stations. It is clear from the study that CCUS is definitely an avenue that, if explored, would make a significant contribution to CO 2 emissions reduction. At present there is a limited number of coal power plants with carbon capture and storage (CCS) due to the high costs involved. There are currently 37 CCS projects in opera- tion, under construction or in advanced development around the world, with a total capacity of 78 million tons CO 2 pa (including all fossil fuel plants, not just coal). Major CCS hubs are located in the USA, China, Scandinavia, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. To introduce such technology, South Africa would need to invest in the pipeline and other infrastructure to process, store and transport carbon dioxide to use it in by-products, thereby creating a closed system in which CO 2 is captured, stored and reused. Various other additional low carbon technologies are explored for the South African context, including renewable energies such as wind, solar and biogas. The pros and cons of each technology are thoroughly examined in the context of South Africa’s op- portunities and limitations in potentially scaling the various options. The technologies applied to electricity generation as well as transport and green hydrogen (green H 2 ) technology. The report emphasises that the current transmission and distribution infrastructure capacity is a constraint for alternative energy scaling and needs to be upgraded to support the new generation capacities. It is estimated that it could take up to eight years to upgrade and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process is the critical path for these projects. However, a number of projects piloting low carbon technologies are currently getting underway. PROGRESS TO DATE The Council for Geoscience is piloting a CCS project by con- ducting research that aims to identify geological storage formations that would be appropriate for storing carbon dioxide. This work is Towards a Clean Coal Roadmap A new report on clean coal technologies has presented a case for potential opportunities and challenges associated with adopting these in a roadmap towards 2030. CCUS would make a significant contribution to CO 2 emissions reduction