ABOUT SABRE-GEN

What is SABRE-Gen?

The South African Bulk Renewable Energy Generation (SABRE-Gen) program was initiated in 1998 by South Africa’s electrical utility, Eskom.

Eskom has been involved with renewable energy technologies for some time, through various non-grid electrification initiatives.However, it was felt that a vehicle was required to enable the evaluation of multi-MW, grid connected generation systems, to determine whether they could provide viable solutions to South Africa’s future electricity needs. This led to the initiation of the SABRE-Gen program. The SABRE-Gen program is operated under Eskom Resources and Strategy, with the individual project management function provided by the TSI division of Eskom Enterprises.The program’s ultimate objective is to evaluate whether utility scale, renewable electricity generation, is a viable supply-side option for Eskom and South Africa.

Who is Eskom?

Eskom was established 76 years ago and currently still operates as a parastatal. The utility owns 20 power stations, with nominal capacity of 38 497 MW, generating 98% of South Africa’s electricity. The majority of the power stations are coal-based.

The utility rates as one of the top 5 utilities in terms of size and sales in the world, and is able to generate electricity at the low cost of about 1-1.5 US c/kWh. Eskom generates more than half of the electricity on the African continent and exports power to all South Africa's neighbouring countries.

SABRE-Gen Components

There are currently four components under the SABRE-Gen program. They are:

  • SABRE-Gen BioEnergy

  • SABRE-Gen CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER

  • SABRE-Gen Wave Power

  • SABRE-Gen Wind

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The above initiatives all follow the same functional structure:

  • Identify promising options

  • Assess the financial and economic viability

  • Assess the resource potential in the country

  • Implement demonstration projects to conduct operational research

  • Provision of strategies for the uptake and sustainable deployment of the technologies.

Of the four, the Wind and CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER components are the most advanced, with demonstration projects to be implemented soon. The BioEnergy and Wave initiatives are still in the early stages of project development.