Mediclinic and CSIR part of practical sessions on energy storage at Enlit Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - April 27, 2023 - PRLog -- Practical case studies, success stories and discussions on energy storage and alternative energy solutions will be featured in free-to-attend sessions at the upcoming Enlit Africa conference and expo, taking place from 16–18 May in Cape Town.

"As the energy market evolves, the need for more storage will be crucial for the future stability of the grid," says Chanelle Hingston, Portfolio Director, Power and Energy for the VUKA Group, producers of Enlit Africa; "the intermittent nature of weather-dependent resources requires a component to capture and store excess energy for periods of high demand. That component is energy storage".

Mediclinic to become carbon neutral by 2030
Petrus Swanepoel, Mediclinic's Infrastructure Sustainability Manager will unpack how his company has dealt with South Africa's energy challenges in a presentation at Enlit Africa on "How to prepare for a successful storage project: Building the business case".

"Our strategy is changing," says Swanepoel, "and we are investigating maximising renewable energy and installing as many PV panels as possible. Yes, we will have excess power and we want to use that excess power and store it in batteries and use these batteries during off-peak times, during loadshedding times or going forward, and if we are lucky and there is no more loadshedding, we want to use that battery storage in peak times to absorb the expensive costs of electricity during peak periods".

He continues: "We have also embarked on a wheeling strategy, whereby we buy offsite renewable energy. The market is developing at this stage, but to make sure that, at the end of the day, we cover our load onsite with renewables, our remaining part will be covered by offsite renewables in the form of wheeling".

The "just" in the just energy transition
Only 1% of the ZAR 1.5 trillion earmarked in the Draft Just Energy Transition Investment Plan is earmarked for skills development; this is according to Aradhna Pandarum, the acting research group leader at the Energy Centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). At the upcoming Enlit Africa in Cape Town from 16–18 May, she is an expert panellist in a discussion on "The economics of energy storage".

She adds: "If you look at battery storage, just lithium ion in itself; at the moment, it's predicted that it will create more jobs than renewables, and that is quite significant in terms of what we need to be doing, especially if we are transitioning. And it shows that we need to consider all of these aspects holistically when we are selecting different technologies and different pathways for the energy transition to ensure a just energy transition".

https://enlit-africa.com/