Mybroadband reports [1] that Eskom has gone quiet about their ambitious plan to deploy around 100 microgrids across South Africa by March 2024. They did have some initial success with projects like the one in Swartkopdam, Northern Cape. That project brought off-grid electricity to 39 previously unpowered households. The microgrids are containerized solar PV systems with battery storage. In remote areas, they are far cheaper to set up than expanding the grid to those areas.
Although Eskom highlighted the microgrids’ benefits and planned extensive rollouts as part of its Just Energy Transition initiative, the utility has not provided recent updates or detailed cost information, despite substantial international funding to support these efforts.
Microgrids are an effective solution. It makes a lot of sense to generate power right where it is needed. Solar allows for this since the sun shines everywhere. However, solar with batteries is not enough. The microgrid needs to include flexible generation to make the system reliable and available during times of low sun.
Flexible generation could take the form of diesel generators, hydrogen, or micro gas turbines fueled with natural gas. This will significantly reduce the likelihood of the microgrid having an outage.
