ENERGY-WATER INTERDEPENDENCE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

摘要

South Africa has a fast growing economy driven by thernmining sector. The industry relies heavily on energyrngenerated from coal combustion. The coal power plantsrnrequire large amounts of water to generate steam to drivernturbines and cooling water for steam recovery to completernthe thermodynamic cycle. Waste streams from therngeneration systems and returning cooling water arernheavily polluted with toxic metals, oil, and other organicrnelements. When returned to natural water bodies, thisrnlowers the water quality of the receiving waters therebyrntaking more water bodies off the national inventory ofrnavailable clean water resources. This choice of powerrnsource for the country has impacted availability (quantity)rnand suitability of use (quality) of the water resources. Forrnsustainable water use for future generations, South Africarnmust develop alternative environmentally sustainablernpower systems that use less water and pollute less.rnPossible alternative technologies have been debatedrnextensively, including: solar, wind, tidal, hydroelectric,rnbiomass, and geothermal energy. The challenge forrnimplementation of most of these alternative sources isrnmostly cost related. For example, solar panels are stillrnforbiddingly expensive; wind energy is considered sparse,rnwhereas geothermal energy is considered mostlyrninaccessible using current technologies. This paperrndiscusses the favourites among the suggested alternativesrnsuch as solar, wind and nuclear energy and how theserncould impact the environment and the social-economicrnstructure of the country.