Switching on to 'green'

The Pan-African parliament building in South Africa switched to 'green' electricity last week in a symbolic commitment to renewable energy by the government. Power is being provided to the building by Amatola Green Power, one of two suppliers of 'green electricity' through the national grid in South Africa. The other company is Green X. 'Green' power, or electricity - derived from renewable resources like biomass wastes in the sugar, wood and paper industries, alongside wind and solar energy, is the way to go, according to Davin Chown, an activist with the environmental lobby group, Earthlife Africa. At least 75 percent of South Africa's total energy generation is coal-based: one of the least environmentally friendly sources, said Earthlife. "The government has indicated that it intends to increase its reliance on renewable energy from nine percent to 14 percent by 2013," said Chown. Earthlife is lobbying for a target of 50 percent of total energy from renewable resources by 2050. 'Green' electricity is still in its infancy in South Africa. Amatola Green Power has started supplying power to five clients via the national grid in a two-year pilot project, with the help of four plants producing energy by burning agricultural waste or biomass from the sugar industries in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces. Green X has signed up a multinational company in the Western Cape as a client and is also sourcing its power from biomass. Both companies brush aside the cost factor involved in producing environmentally friendly electricity. "For each R1,000 (about US $166) paid for 'green power', the buyer removes approximately 2.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that would otherwise have been emitted into the air that we breathe," according to Amatola's Kobus Morgan. "If you consider the actual costs [to the environment and human life] involved in producing electricity from coal or nuclear plants, power from renewable sources is much more cost-effective in the long run," claimed Glynn Morris of Green X. He pioneered the concept in South Africa by using renewable resources to provide electricity to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development venue in Johannesburg. The situation will have changed in another 10 years, forecast Morris, because by then the escalating cost of electricity from non-renewable sources would have caught up with the price of green power. When hydropower is included, Africa has numerous examples. Compared to European countries, like the United Kingdom, which has legislation making it mandatory for electricity consumers to source a certain proportion of their power from renewable sources, South Africa and the continent have a long way to go, Morris observed. "At the moment we are supplying electrify to willing buyers in South Africa: it is like organic farming - there are people who prefer buying organic produce, while others do not," he added. The government has promised incentives to companies signing up for electricity from renewable energy, said Morgan. Among the options being considered was setting up a system of certificates for 'green' customers, which they would be able to sell, while tax incentives were another option. The fact that a major automobile manufacturer in South Africa had issued a tender last month for a 'green' electricity supplier indicated the importance to conscientious consumers of being environmentally friendly, added Morris. Amatola intends setting up 28 power stations in the next few years, which would help reduce costs and offer ordinary consumers greater access to 'green power'.