Sweco is advising Eskom, the public power utility in South Africa, in the country’s transition towards renewable energy. The project includes analyses of methods and power system operations and is commissioned by DANIDA, the Danish state board for development cooperation.

South Africa is currently transitioning its energy production to include domestically generated renewable energy, such as wind and solar polar. As the amount of renewable energy increases, methods and technologies need to be implemented to make the grid adaptable to variations in the energy supply. The current power generation is largely based on coal, gas and nuclear power.

Sweco’s experts will advise Eskom, the South African public power utility, on large scale integrations of renewable energy and how it will affect the national power grid. The project is a key initiative to meet established climate targets.

“The transition to an energy sector with reduced carbon dioxide emissions requires extensive changes. Investments in production facilities, transmission and distribution networks are taking place around the world. We’re glad to be able to share our expertise as South Africa takes significant steps towards renewable energy, says Åsa Bergman, President of Sweco Sweden.

The project is funded by a development program run by DANIDA, the Danish state board for development cooperation. The program aims to increase the knowledge about integration of renewable energy sources to existing the power systems.

Eskom operates most of the country’s power system, generates 95 percent of its electricity, and 45 percent of the electricity on the African continent.

The project will be completed in June 2017.