Carbon capture and storage (CCS) was a transitional measure while South Africa moved to lessen its reliance on fossil fuels and 
increase its dependence on nuclear or renewable-energy forms, South African National Energy Research Institute (Saneri) senior manager Tony Surridge said last week.

Speaking at the Energy Efficiency 2009 
conference, he noted that there had to be 
greater focus on energy efficiency and renew-
able energy, not only because of climate change, but also to ensure the sustainability 
of energy.

Energy efficiency would lead to lower costs as a percentage of gross domestic product, he said.

Meanwhile, he noted that it was unlikely that CCS would be implemented in South Africa without carbon trading, as this was needed to offset the high cost of CCS.


The Clean Development Mechanism did not currently accept CCS for trading, but the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was dealing with this issue.

South Africa’s carbon dioxide (CO2) storage atlas, which would use existing geological 
information to identify potential future storage sites for CO2, remained on schedule to be published in the middle of next year, said Surridge.

The South African storage atlas project was started in 2008.

The country was also planning to implement a CO2 injection pilot project by 2016, after which it would develop a demonstration plant by 2020.

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