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As SA's first wind farms pass the 10-year mark, will they keep spinning?
In Vredenburg, two hours outside Cape Town, 47 wind turbines dot the landscape at the Aurora Wind Farm, harvesting coastal winds and converting them into enough energy to power more than 180 000 households per year.
The 94MW wind farm has been operating for 10 years, feeding power to South Africa's grid as part of Bid Window 2 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
This West Coast wind farm is one of eight wind projects that have passed the 10-year mark. All projects enter into 20-year contracts or power purchase agreements (PPA) with Eskom, to sell the energy to the power utility.
Decommissioning or repowering?
The question remains what will happen by the time they have to be decommissioned, given how quickly South Africa's energy market is changing.
All REIPPPP projects are required to include decommissioning and rehabilitation considerations as part of their PPAs with Eskom and financial closure obligations, said Morongoa Ramaboa, chief communications officer at the South African Wind Energy Association (Sawea).
'While formal decommissioning activities are not yet under way, project developers are expected to set aside financial provisions for end-of-life activities from the outset. As projects mature, particularly those nearing the end of their 20-year PPA, developers will refine these plans to align with site-specific and regulatory requirements,' said Ramaboa.
There is, however, a possibility of repowering or extending the life of these plants so they can sell to alternative (non-Eskom) buyers of the energy, such as private sector players.
'Under the current REIPPPP framework, PPAs are fixed at 20 years though there are provisions for extension since the plants do have the capability to have their operational life extended,' said Ramaboa. The plants would have to be refurbished with upgraded technology to improve their efficiency and extend their operational life.
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'Why scrap something that still has life?' said Alberto Gambacorta, executive vice president for the sub-Saharan Africa division of renewable energy developer Scatec.
Scatec has had a presence in South Africa since 2010. Its Kalkbult solar PV plant in the Northern Cape was the first project of the REIPPP's Bid Window 1 that was commissioned in March 2014.
Gambacorta said that closer to decommissioning, or as the 20-year PPA draws to a close, there will be considerations about what can be done about these plants. But they could go for another 10 years, with maintenance and refurbishment to improve its capacity. He expects that the electricity tariffs would also be cheaper, because at that point the plant's loans would be repaid and returns would have been made for the initial investors.
'There is something that can be done with these power plants in their afterlife, which doesn't necessarily need to be decommissioned,' he said.
Gambacorta, however, emphasised that there are obligations to decommission and ensure the site is restored. But if the renewables are decommissioned, there should be alternative power to replace that which is removed from the energy system, he pointed out.
'You [are] decommissioning renewables, so where are you going make it up in terms of capacity… Those plants already have a footprint. You already have the infrastructure. You have the grid connection. You need to probably reinforce it, but it's there and it's available, and they're all located with the best resources,' said Gambacorta.
He added that in other parts of the world, like Europe, renewable energy plants have not been decommissioned. 'They're still there. They're still running in the wholesale markets.'
Secondary markets
It is possible, then, that these first renewable energy plants in South Africa could be repurposed to meet the demands of the wholesale electricity market.
Luyanda Jonas, CEO of Aurora Wind Power, said that there was a possibility that there may be a secondary market for the components of these plants.
'By the time we have to decommission, there might have been a secondary market already that is developed in South Africa, like other countries that have had wind farms operating for much longer.
'So there might be a secondary market for the different parts,' she said.
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The decommissioning will ensure that each wind tower be taken down, along with blades and other operating mechanism and then have the land returned to its original state.
'In South Africa we are among the first few wind farms that reached commercial operations and that means we're also among the first that will have to decommission when the time comes,' she said, explaining that it was not yet clear whether there would be a secondary market for parts.
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Sawea's Ramaboa said that international best practice supported an approach where turbine components like the steel, copper and concrete could be recycled.
'Select parts may be refurbished and sold into secondary markets, including other developing countries. Turbine blades, made from composite materials, present a greater challenge, but there are emerging innovations in repurposing them for construction and infrastructure applications,' said Ramaboa.
The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association's (Sapvia) junior technical specialist Sinethemba Mnguni noted that the IPP Office is conducting a study to assess international best practices for decommissioning, as well as recommend improvements to the legal framework for decommissioning, and quantify the benefits to consumers. The study will include stakeholder consultations.
Mnguni added that the IPP Office has also commissioned a study on a recycling and repurposing framework for the REIPPP projects.
'While the outcomes of that study are still pending, it is likely that the majority of solar plant components will be recycled, with minimal material going to landfill,' Mnguni said.
