Ecopreneurist has an article on South Africa's first solar thermal power plant, which includes 2 hours of thermal storage - Khi Solar One Tower — First Concentrating Solar Power Plant In South Africa — Is Now Online.

The Khi Solar One concentrating solar power plant is now one step closer to reality with the recent completion of the Khi Solar One tower in the Northern Cape province, near Upington, in South Africa. The company behind the 50 MW project — Abengoa, together with its partners the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Khi Community Trust — recently held a ceremony to commemorate the important milestone. An important milestone with regard to the project itself, and also with regard to the pursuit of South Africa’s renewable energy goals.

The newly completed 205-meter tall tower — which will be the centerpiece of, and driving force behind the 50 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant — represents a significant advance in solar tower efficiency, possessing both the capacity for higher temperatures than previous designs, and also a new ‘innovative’ dry-cooling system. ...

Khi Solar One, a 50 megawatt (MW) superheated steam solar tower with two hours of thermal storage, and KaXu Solar One, Abengoa’s 100 MW parabolic trough plant also under construction in the Northern Cape, will be the first concentrating solar power plants in operation in South Africa. The South Africa Department of Energy intends to bring 17,800 MW online from renewable sources by 2030, framing South Africa’s strategy for energy independence.

AFP has an update on plans for a 5 GW solar thermal power plant in South Africa's Kalahari desert - S.Africa solar plan draws interest: government.

South Africa's plan to build what could become the world's biggest solar project has drawn keen interest from investors even though it is still in its infancy, an official said Friday.

More than 400 investors and solar industry insiders from around the world converged on the town of Upington in South Africa's arid Northern Cape province this week for a two-day conference aimed at generating investor interest in plans for a 5,000-Megawatt solar park at the edge of the Kalahari Desert.

The park, whose estimated price tag is 150 billion rands (21.3 billion dollars, 15.4 billion euros), would provide one-eighth of South Africa's current generation capacity, helping end the country's reliance on coal and the power shortages that pummelled its economy in 2008.

Speaking at the close of the conference, Ompi Aphane, acting deputy director general of the Department of Energy, said investors were "very excited" about the project even though it is still in the planning stage.

"There's a lot that's out there in the market about our urgent need for capacity and I think investors want to take advantage of that, particularly if it's clean energy," he told reporters.

"There are concrete financial proposals that have been received, notwithstanding the fact that some of the transaction issues have not been resolved."

Aphane said officials received a billion-dollar investment proposal from a European development firm and several others from firms around the world.

I tend to be dubious about stories of "peak coal" in the near term, but this report from South Africa is interesting - SA is nearing peak coal, say scientists.

Research by international and local scientists has shown that coal, like other resources, is finite and can be expected to comply with peak resources theory.

The theory shows that production in commodities such as oil grows until a peak is reached, whereafter production declines.

In the case of South African coal, the studies show production has already reached its peak, or soon will.

“It is commonly believed that South Africa has abundant coal reserves which will last 200 years or more,'' says Jeremy Wakeford, chair of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (Aspo) in South Africa, in the organisation's latest newsletter.

“But recent research [from] three scientific journals suggests that usable reserves are much smaller than previously thought, and that annual production could reach a peak and begin to decline within a decade -- or might even have peaked already.''

Wakeford says that “given the country's overwhelming dependence on coal, this issue has huge ramifications for our future development path''.

Coal provides 70% of the country's energy supply, supports 90% of electricity generation, is used to make a quarter of the country's liquid fuels using the Sasol process and is a big earner of foreign exchange through exports to foreign users.

Geologist Chris Hartnady, in a paper to be published in the SA Journal of Science, has forecast peak production in 2020 at about 285-million tonnes a year.

This compares with total production last year of 242-million tons. This was mostly used by Eskom (123-million tonnes), Sasol (40-million tonnes) and export (66-million tonnes).

Eskom's current expansion programme could use an additional 50-million tonnes, and if the Sasol Mafutha project goes ahead it will need another 20-million tonnes annually, says Wakeford.

David Rutledge, a professor at the California Institute of Technology, has meanwhile forecast South African production to peak in 2011 at about 253-million tonnes a year.

This is supported by research by two American professors, says Wakeford, Tadeusz Patzek and Gregory Croft, published this year in the journal Energy.

“They estimate that South Africa's coal production from existing coal fields, when measured in energy units, peaked in 2007.

“They further contend that future mines are unlikely to reverse the trend since the economics of mining dictates that most accessible reserves are mined earlier on, so that the net energy return from the coal mining declines while the production costs rise over time,'' says Wakeford.

Eskom chief executive Brian Dames bemoaned the poor quality of coal Eskom is receiving in a briefing to parliamentarians earlier this month. Dames said that Eskom was losing 1 000 megawatts of power each day because of the low quality of coal it was being supplied.

The Smirking Chimp reports that the South African government is giving up funding pebble bed reactor research - Another feeble-headed nuke drops dead.

As the "reactor renaissance" desperately demands new billions from a lame duck Congress, one of its shining stars has dropped dead. Other much-hyped "new generation" plans may soon die with it.

For years "expert" reactor backers have touted the "Pebble Bed" design as an "inherently safe" alternative to traditional domed light water models. Now its South African developers say they're done pouring money into it.

The Pebble Bed's big idea was to create a critical mass of uranium particles coated with silicon carbide and encased in graphite. These intensely radioactive "pebbles" would seethe in a passive container, cooled by helium. Without the need for a containment dome, the super-heated mass would produce both heat and electricity. Touted as needing no back-up emergency systems to prevent a major disaster, the plan was to mass-produce these "smaller, simpler" reactors for use throughout the industrial world.

Pebble Bed technology originated in Germany. But it was adopted and developed by the government of South Africa. For some it was a source of pride that a "developing" nation had become a significant player in the so-called nuclear renaissance.

But the South African government has now cut off funding for the project. Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan has told the National Assembly that "sobering realities" included the lack of working demonstration model, the lack of customers, the lack of a major investment partner and the impending demand for $4.2 billion in new investment capital. As deadlines consistently slipped, Westinghouse withdrew from the project in May.

South African officials say the US and China are still working on the technology. But economic realities make any tangible future Pebble Bed as a major source of new energy largely imaginary. Critics also worry that without a containment dome, the pebble beds would be vulnerable to small groups of terrorists with simple shell-lobbing mortars. And that critical metal components would not perform as needed under the intense stresses of heat and radiation.

The death of the Pebble Bed has considerable significance. For nearly two decades reactor backers have counted it in the imaginary fleet of new generation reactors coming to save us. Its alleged bright future would make it just one of the many new nuclear technologies that would render solar and wind energy unnecessary.

Bloomberg has a report on interest in building a $21 billion, 5 GW solar power (presumably solar thermal power) plant in South Africa - South Africa Studying $21 Billion Solar Energy Park on Cape.

South Africa plans to complete a study into the viability of a 5,000 megawatt solar energy park, which will be the world’s largest if built, by the end of this month.

Initial estimates indicate that the plant, which may be built in Upington in the Northern Cape, could cost as much as 150 billion rand ($21.1 billion), government spokesman Themba Maseko told reporters in Cape Town today. The study is being conducted by South Africa’s Department of Energy with the Clinton Climate Initiative.

A memorandum of understanding was signed by South African Energy Minister Dipuo Peters and representatives from the Clinton Climate Initiative in October 2009 to develop the plant. South Africa is battling a power shortage after the government halted expansion plans by state-owned power producer Eskom Holdings Ltd. for four years until 2004 while it tried and failed to convince companies to build power plants.

High Speed Rail seems to be a hot topic lately - Inhabitat reports that the South Africans are looking to jump on the bandwagon - South Africa to Unveil Plans for High Speed Rail Network.

From the US to the UK to China, countries around the world getting in on the high speed rail bandwagon. The latest country to announce plans for a network is South Africa, which is now looking into a high speed rail line that connects Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Right now a journey from Durban to Johannesburg can take up to 12 hours, but with a high speed rail line the trip would only take 3 hours. This vast improvement is what South African officials feel is necessary to improve economic development and modernize the country.

South Africa has nearly finished construction on a small high speed rail line, which is set to open in May — just in time for the 2010 World Cup. The Gautrain (a combo of Gauteng province and train) will link Johannesburg to Pretoria and the international airport and have a top speed of 100 miles per hour. Testing for the rail line is ongoing and officials have high hopes for the train’s usefulness during the games this summer.

My "Limits To Scenario Planning" post was originally prompted by some chatter amongst the TOD editors about the Limits To Growth book.

Ugo Bardi's article on "Peak oil and The Limits to Growth: two parallel stories" is now up at TOD Europe, comparing Hubbert style oil depletion modelling and the systems dynamics style modelling used by the LTG authors.

TOD Europe also had a recent post on "Understanding the current energy crisis in South Africa" which looked at the impact electricity shortages are having on the country and putting this into the context of the limits to growth.

The era of very cheap electricity in South Africa is now over. Consumers will face price hikes of between 14 and 20% per annum for at least the next few years. This will encourage necessary conservation and efficiency measures, but will be especially hard on poorer consumers. Thus the government will come under pressure to increase its expenditure on social support programmes and grants. What has happened, has happened, and cannot be changed. We are here, now, in the present situation and faced with the choices of which route to follow going forward. The question we need to ask is, “Will our solutions make us more or less dependent on fossil fuels? Will they take us closer to sustainability or further from it? Are we seeking long-term solutions or short-term quick fixes? What price will we pay in the future if we make the wrong choices now?”

Idleworm has a post looking at the impact these shortages are having on the South African mining industry, and the implications for the rest of us.

Amazing find on Survival Acres - a letter from a citizen in South Africa, describing the energy crisis, and the continuing breakdown in the nation's physical infrastructure. From the comments section on the page, South Africa's neighbours won't be in a position to send any juice south, as they're reliant on that country's energy exports.

Approximately 80% of the world's Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium is mined in South Africa, not to mention gold.

Platinum is used in catalytic converters, catalysts in fuel cells, chemotherapy, thermometers, electrodes in electrolysis and electrochemical measurements, jewelry, silicone elastomers, glow plugs, crucibles for high temperature melting of glass, archival printmaking and watchmaking.

Palladium is used in dentistry, watch making, blood sugar test strips, aircraft spark plugs, surgical instruments, multilayer ceramic capacitors, electrodes in multi-layer ceramic capacitors, platings in consumer electronics, plating of electronic components, soldering materials, hydrogen purification, carbon monoxide detectors, hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions, petroleum cracking, catalytic converters, homogeneous catalysis, hydrogen storage, jewelry, photography and manuscript illumination.

Rhodium is used in optical instruments, jewelry, catalytic converters, catalytic carbonylation of methanol, silicone rubbers, chiral synthesis and mammography.

Whew.

Make of that what you will.