Lesotho Highlands Water Project's hydropower bonus

What began as an ambitious plan to channel Lesotho's mountain water to Gauteng has also unleashed clean energy, turning the project into a surprising renewable energy success story

- By Ed Stoddard

The water rushing through the canal originated way up in the Lesotho mountains and its final destination – if you live in Gauteng – should be your shower or sink.

But on this leg of its journey outside the picturesque Free State town of Clarens, the water is playing a different role: generating hydropower. "This is an unintended consequence of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). They were not thinking about this when it was started," Anton-Louis Olivier, CEO of Serengeti Energy, said as he stood alongside the canal.

Olivier was referring to the independent power producer projects that have been unleashed in South Africa in recent years through the loosening and lifting of regulations. This has spawned initiatives enabled by the LHWP, such as the recently opened Boston hydroelectric plant near Clarens, which was built by Serengeti.

JSE-listed Growthpoint Properties has acquired a 30% stake in the R390-million plant and has exclusive access to all of the 30GWh of renewable electricity that will be generated by the plant annually via a 195GWh power purchase agreement with licensed energy trader Etana Energy.

The project is a microcosm of the renewable energy initiatives that liberalisation has spurred – and how the sector is able to grasp the opportunities presented by infrastructure crafted primarily for another purpose.

When the LHWP was launched in the late 1980s, the main aim was to provide reliable water supplies to South Africa’s industrial hub.

But it’s also tailor-made to generate hydropower: the flow varies but is constant, and along the way it is peppered with locations suitable for the dam walls, weirs and vertical drops needed to generate energy from H2O.