Evaluation of the potential for hybridization of gas turbine power plants with renewable energy in South Africa

Domestic energy supply to rural area is a task facing many governments. In efforts to meet this target, electricity generating companies have tried to exploit available resources of energy, including the combustion of fossil fuels even though they have been recognized to cause environmental problems such as climate change and acid rain. Moreover, these resources occur in limited quantities and therefore pose energy insecurity. It is believed that the addition of renewable energy (RE) resources in the general energy mix can assist in mitigating climate change and in augmenting energy security. This paper investigates the possible renewable energy that can be exploited in hybrid gas turbines (GTs) in South Africa (SA). In this study, data was collected through a desktop approach. It is found that there is potential for use of biodiesel, biogas, and concentrated solar power in GTs. Results also show that about 2.00 ×10⁶ MWh, 12.09 ×10⁶ MWh and 105.0 ×10⁶ MWh of electricity can be annually generated from biodiesel, biogas and concentrating solar collectors respectively through the gas turbine technology in SA. It is concluded that there is great potential for exploiting solar and biogas resources to drive gas turbine power plants in the country.