| dc.description.abstract | Swaziland is enjoying low import prices from the Southern African Power Pool, unfortunately, recent events took place that should act as warning. An example of these events include the politically motivated sabotage of a 1,360 km HVDC power link to South Africa which took place during the civil war in Mozambique that interrupted supply for about 17 years. Alternatives identification for supply of electricity is an urgent route to pursue if energy security is regarded fundamental. Plans to find alternatives have been initiated through a proposed domestic 300 MW coal fired power plant.
This paper performs a feasibility assessment by evaluating technical, economic and external aspects of the alternative plans. Neighboring South Africa’s projected LCOE by the International Energy Agency were adjusted and then used to estimate Swaziland’s LCOE. Adjustments used Swaziland’s inflation rate, interest rate, gross domestic product per capita, human development index, consumer price index, labor average wage and external cost.
Findings from the study demonstrate that Swaziland may have potential regarding the technical feasibility of establishing the coal-fired power plant. The economic feasibility results reveal savings of about US$56,961,900 if the country pursues the plans ignoring external costs. The study also demonstrated that in an estimated 5 year period of electricity shortage from not building the plant, energy insecurity in the form of electricity shortage costs outweigh the estimated benefits.
Using the results from this study, two kinds of working recommendations include short term goal of using coal for electricity generation and a long term goal of searching for more alternatives, especially those that are environmentally friendly like biomass. In line with policy measures, recommendations focus is on coordinated planning and development, integrated sustainable energy generation, demand-side management, price-oriented and systems improvement, and cost-reflective tariffs. Additional suggestions are related to future research work, towards studying factors that were appeared as important. This could be pursued in order to further develop the plans of increased domestic electricity generation. | en_US |