POWER May 2016 - 12

2. Global installed hydropower capacity by country at the end of 2015.
The bulk of the world's hydropower capacity is in China, a country that added 19.4 GW in 2015
alone. Of the 1,211 GW installed worldwide, about 145 GW is pumped storage capacity-the
majority of which is currently installed in Japan. Planned projects will soon make China the world
leader of pumped hydro capacity, however. Courtesy: International Hydropower Association
3. Energy potential. Eskom in March
grid-synchronized the first of four units of the
1.3-GW Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme. The
project conceived in the 1980s is being built
on the escarpment of the little Drakensberg
and consists of an upper dam (Bedford Dam)
and a lower dam (Bramhoek Dam), which
are 4.6 kilometers apart and connected by
underground waterways passing through a
subterranean powerhouse with four 333-MW
generators. Construction of the lower waterway
was completed in December 2015 and
filled with water from the lower dam. Unit 3
will be fully operational in January 2017. Testing
of Unit 4 is under way and major construction
of Unit 1 and 2 has also been completed.
Courtesy: Eskom
While financing based on " build, own, operate,
and transfer " models has not been
successful for hydro due to larger capital
requirements, longer gestation periods,
and greater development risks, more multilateral
agencies are now backing private
sector finance. " World Bank guarantees are
leveraging relatively limited resources to
mobilise private sector finance; the International
Finance Corporation is now participating
in equity as well as debt finance,
injecting risk capital, providing development
experience and adding investor confidence;
public-private partnership models
are enabling concessionary public funds
to be blended with private finance, with
shared ownership of risk, " the IHA said.
All over the world, meanwhile, a number
of state-owned hydropower assets and
concessions were transferred to the private
sector in 2015. Brazil sold its operating
rights for 29 hydropower plants for $4.51
billion, while Turkey announced tenders
for the privatization of 10 hydropower
plants worth 538 MW. On the industrial
side, General Electric acquired hydropower-equipment
maker Alstom's power and
grid business, the IHA noted.
Also in 2015, China's hydropower clout
flourished globally. Chinese firms bagged
the 720-MW Karot project in Pakistan,
while the State Power Investment Corp.
agreed to buy Pacific Hydro in a reported
$3 billion deal. And as State Grid Corp.
of China won a lucrative contract to build
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and operate Brazil's longest transmission
line connecting the 11.2-GW Belo Monte
project to Rio de Janeiro, the Three Gorges
Corp. bought operating rights for the 1.6GW
Jupia and 3.4-GW Ilha Solteira hydropower
plants for $3.7 billion.
Major projects also got their start
or were completed in Africa over 2015.
Ethiopia brought the first two of 10 units
online at the 1.87-GW Gilgel Gibe III
plant. In 2016, the remainder will come
online while the country will commission
the first two 375-MW turbines of its 6-GW
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. And as
Zambia began building the 750-MW Kafue
Gorge Lower project in late 2015, the
Democratic Republic of Congo announced
it would start construction of the mammoth
4.8-GW Inga 3 project in 2017.
-Sonal Patel, associate editor
South Africa Makes
Strides in Securing Power
System
South Africa's power system is preparing
to receive a critical capacity boost. In
March, state-owned utility Eskom gridsynchronized
the first of four units of the
Ingula Pumped Storage project in KwaZulu-Natal.
The
utility hasn't had to shed load
since August 2015, and it celebrates that
achievement every day. Eskom credits
improvements in unplanned losses and
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maintenance for that. The country's Energy
Intensive Users Group suggests,
however, that South Africa has kept the
lights on not because of capacity additions
but because the decline in metals
prices has tamped down manufacturing
and curbed power demand. Eskom acknowledged
that demand has fallen, but
not drastically, pointing out that it also
supplies electricity to power-strapped
neighbors Zambia and Zimbabwe under
discretionary agreements.
In early March, the company had 35.8
GW in operating capacity for the first time
in more than 18 months. It has a massive
expansion program under way to increase
its generation capacity by 17.3 GW,
to lengthen transmission lines by 9,756
kilometers, and to increase its substation
capacity. The expansion program includes
two 4.7-GW coal-fired power plants, Kusile
and Medupi. Synchronization of Unit 3
of the 1.3-GW Ingula Pumped Storage
Scheme marked a critical milestone in the
company's efforts to build new capacity
(Figure 3).
In mid-February, meanwhile, Eskom returned
to service all six units of the 4.1GW
Majuba coal-fired power plant situated
in Mpumalanga province. Operations at the
1994-built plant were halted after a coal
storage silo collapsed in November 2014.
Workers are now repairing the damaged
POWER | May 2016

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POWER May 2016

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