Workshops on the Development of a Handbook on Battery Energy Storage facilitated
In 2022 the South African-German Energy Partnership project as implemented by GIZ, facilitated the development of a sanitised Handbook on Battery Energy Storage. The aim of the Handbook is to assist project developers, municipalities and any other person/institution involved and/or interested in implementing a battery energy storage project in South Africa. It is positioned as a source of information for the different available application uses and how storage can assist the national efforts of stabilizing the grid.
The Handbook is a brainchild of the South African Energy Storage Association (SAESA). It is developed by the VUKA Group through financial support from the Energy Partnership. The development process was carried out through various stakeholder engagement platforms facilitated online and physically. Three workshops have been carried out to date, the latest being one held on the 9th of June on the side-lines of the Enlit Africa conference held in Cape Town from the 7th until 9th of June 2022. All the three workshops have attracted interest and participation from government, private sector, financing institutions and development agencies currently involved in the energy storage sector in South Africa.
The reception of the Handbook concept has been positive so far. As SAESA puts it, the Handbook is meant to be developed with the industry, for the industry. The Association emphasizes that municipalities can benefit a lot if they were to successfully convince their intensive energy users to invest in battery energy storage capacity for own consumption (cushion against loadshedding) and discharging any surplus to the grid as and when needed.
The first volume of the Handbook has been launched in October 2022, please find the document here.