Gas and electricity might be competing energy forms in developed countries, where they target the same end-use market, but this is not necessarily the case in developing nations, says State-owned power utility Eskom corporate strategy senior manager Cathy Anne Laing.

Speaking at the Institute for International Research’s Gas Week 2013, which took place at The Hyatt Regency, Rosebank, from April 8 to 12, Laing promoted a collaboration model for South Africa’s energy sector, based on the belief that natural gas can support the country’s ever-increasing energy demand.

The proposed approach is to use South Africa’s need for additional power generation capacity to kick-start a local gas industry, pro- viding both electricity and gas for manufac- turing, mining beneficiation and transport, and to meet the heating and cooling requirements, among other applications, in both the commercial and residential sectors.

Laing’s suggestion involves the promotion of gas as an additional power generation source, which will enable the development and expansion of a wider gas industry to meet these market needs and, ultimately, improve the energy efficiency of the local and regional economy.

“For years, electricity has supported economic growth in the Southern African region with coal as a base resource and, though electricity has been used for all electrical end-uses, the efficiency of the supply chain is poor,” she says.

Laing points out that, when comparing gas and electricity as competitors, gas, when used directly, stands out as a far more efficient energy delivery system, delivering three times more energy than electricity at the end of a value chain.

She, therefore, argues that electricity does not need to form the basis of South Africa’s energy economy and highlights gas as a comple- mentary fuel that can serve both electricity generation and end-use needs, especially in terms of heating.

Laing further points out that natural gas supplies the energy needed to meet the heating requirements in most economies where gas is readily available, including many developed countries in the European Union.

In contrast, the Southern African energy sector still uses electricity for most heating processes, storing Eskom-produced energy in batteries or pumped storage facilities. Further, while Eskom’s infrastructure repres- ents the largest power-line system in Africa, it also represents additional expenditure, she says.

Citing the Institute of Race Relations Survey 2012, Laing points out that 45% of households in South Africa use electricity to heat their homes, while more than 70% use electricity to cook. This places significant pressure on peak demand, especially during winter. In fact, the difference in peak demand between summer and winter averages around 8 000 MW.

Further, each step in the power transmission process costs money, which contributes to the final tariff payable by the public. However, both rising electricity prices and additional demand can be mitigated through the inclusion of natural gas in South Africa’s energy mix.

Meanwhile, Laing acknowledges that her hypothesis works under the assumption that gas will become more available in South Africa in the coming years, possibly through increased supply from Mozambique or from the Ibhubesi Gas Project, off the west coast of South Africa.

She also sites imported liquefied natural gas or, if proven viable, shale gas reserves in the Karoo basin as possible sources of gas that could be made available locally in the near future.