Abstract
While the generation and transmission of photovoltaic (PV) solar power is a viable solution to alleviate power poverty in South Africa, the development could introduce compounding impacts not previously understood during project-level environmental impact assessments (EIA), because of the extended spatial footprint of interrelated developments specifically in solar resource-rich areas such as Upington. Thus, a critical gap in literature that could hinder potential future developments.
Samples of EIA and basic assessment reports (BAR) were identified from a list of developments within the target area, which is the Upington Renewable Development Zone (REDZ 7), the list obtained through the spatial screening of REDZ 7 using the Department of Environment Screening Tool, to determine the respective sensitive impacts. The screening report provided a total of 180 target developments within REDZ 7 (broadly covering both wind and solar) of which environmental authorisation (EA) has been issued or is under consideration, wherefrom a total of 10 case reports (BAR/EIA) was prioritized for review. The overall footprint coverage of the solar power generation and transmission was hence evaluated from these sample data. A multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to quantify and identify significant impacts associated with PV solar power generation and transmission in Upington, by synthesizing the average and maximum impact of each environmental theme to a Saaty scale, which was input into an AHP platform for assessment. the consistency ratio of each criterion within the AHP assessment was tested for generation and transmission before quantifying the significant impacts, yielding 5.07% and 3.65% respectively.
The predominant large-scale solar power plant capacities for Upington were identified to be 75 MW and 100 MW. The study found that the average footprint density of solar power generation plants in Upington is competitive achieving a footprint density of 27.41 m2/kW. This compares favourably with the global standard of approximately 29 m2/kW. The overall installed PV solar generation is supported by a transmission system operating at a voltage of 132 kV and 400 kV consisting of interconnected power lines extending to approximately 792.44 km in total and covering an area of approximately 3695 hectares. The significant impacts associated with the installed generation plants and transmission system is dominated by plant species (24.19 %
Page | v
and 22.21 %), avian (10.51 % for transmission only), aquatic biodiversity (9.98 % for generation only), agriculture (9.75 % for transmission only), and animal species (9.51 % for transmission only). Thus, the study has identified that the strategic focus of cumulative impact assessment in Upington should be provided to aquatic biodiversity, plant species, and social issues. While climate change (30.19 % for transmission and 24.19 % for generation) is demonstrated to be an important issue for solar power developments in Upington, the study concluded that a footprint density on the generation plants is an important issue, recommending a cap of approximately 30 m2/kW.