New gas projects will be economical – Aurecon

With two major gas-to-power projects under way in the country, consulting company Aurecon believes that the two, possibly three, gas power stations associated with the projects can be economical as existing infrastructure can be used to support them.

- Victor Moolman

“There are currently two major gas-to power projects in the gas industry – the big gas programme that will see liquefied natural gas(LNG-) fuelled power stations installed at one or both at the Port of Richards Bay, in KwaZuluNatal, and the Port of Coega, in Eastern Cape, and the small gas programme that is anticipated to see a gas power plant installed at the Port of Saldanha Bay, in the Western Cape,” says Aurecon power generation division associate Kobus van der Merwe.

The Richards Bay LNG-fired power station as well as the Coega LNG-fired power station are anticipated to each produce 1 000 MW and, together with other LNG projects across South Africa , a total of 3000MW will be added to the grid once the projects have been completed.

He explains that State-owned power utility Eskom has also started planning to convert the diesel-fired power station Ankerlig, in Cape Town, to run on LNG, thereby reducing the fuel operating costs.