As South Africa tackles the next energy challenge of grid capacity, ENERTRAG South Africa technical head Dr Clinton Carter-Brown advocates for local collector grids that can integrate power from multiple projects and provide dispatchable green energy when combined with energy storage.

His comments come ahead of South African Wind Energy Association’s seventh yearly WindAc Africa Conference in October, in Cape Town.

ENERTRAG South Africa is a subsidiary of German renewable-energy company ENERTRAG.

Carter-Brown says leveraging private capital in grid development will strengthen power corridors and create local grids that evolve into combined power plants.

These plants can also include new loads and support deeper decarbonisation through green hydrogen production, he adds.

The transition from individually connected renewables facilities to combined power plants will enhance the integration of various generation sources, energy storage and new technologies, optimising grid use and offering additional services

“Developers in South Africa need to collaborate on shared grid infrastructure, moving beyond traditional competition to collectively finance and build these systems equitably. Optimising current and future grids to maximise new generation connections through smart market mechanisms is essential,” Carter-Brown explains.

The advantages of a combined power plant model include hybridisation effects, with interconnected generators reducing grid capacity needs by basing grid connection capacity on combined and diversified requirements rather than individual plants; reduced complexity as fewer connection points simplify grid management, lower costs and streamline ancillary services; and shared grid assets that lead to more effective collective action.

Carter-Brown adds that the incorporation of technologies such as energy storage can mimic traditional thermal power plant performance, while ensuring on-demand dispatchability.

While the National Transmission Company South Africa must executive the Transmission Development Plan, which will add 1 400 km of transmission lines every year for the next decade, Carter-Brown says a more dynamic approach is needed that includes greater private-sector involvement to manage risks and expand the grid.

ENERTRAG will discuss its learnings at the upcoming wind conference, including how it has integrated 646 MW of wind, solar, biomass, battery storage and hydrogen production systems.

The company encourages interested companies in collector grid connection to attend.