The government is looking at underground storage of carbon dioxide from coal-fired power stations as a way of reducing the millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases the plants belch into the country’s atmosphere each year.
Speaking at the end of a media briefing on climate change at Cape Point, south of Cape Town, on Wednesday, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said it is still too early to make a final decision on the matter.
”We are looking at it … but we have a particular problem with the geological structures in [South Africa], which from a carbon storage point of view may make it a risk. But we don’t have enough evidence on the table at the moment to make a decision,” he said.
Power utility Eskom’s 10 coal-fired power stations are responsible for much of the carbon dioxide — a major contributor to climate change and global warming — emitted in South Africa.
According to its annual report, the stations released a total of 203,7-million tonnes of carbon dioxide during the year ending March 2006. The utility is planning to bring three more coal-fired plants on line over the next few years, which will push this figure up considerably.
Stern speaks
Speaking earlier at the briefing, Sir Nicholas Stern, author of the groundbreaking Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, released in November last year, said capturing and storing carbon underground is the way to go in the medium term for countries such as South Africa.
The process involves injecting the captured gas into suitably deep geological formations, where it remains trapped. It is expensive; some experts estimate it could push up the cost of electricity from a power plant using such technology by between 30% and 60%.
Stern said in the short term it is important to make coal-fired plants as efficient as possible, as well as developing alternative renewable energy sources.
Earlier on Wednesday, Stern briefed Cabinet ministers on climate change.
Van Schalkwyk said his department, together with the Department of Minerals and Energy, will present a ”new integrated energy plan” to the Cabinet by the end of the year.
”At this stage our commitment is to have 10% of all new energy renewable, and 4% of the total package. But I hope the plan will come with more positive targets from an environmental point of view,” he said. — Sapa