www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org ENERGY SECURITY: INVESTIGATING NATURAL GAS FOR ENERGY GENERATION AT AIRPORTS IN SOUTH AFRICA – A TECHNOECONOMIC ASSESSMENT JERUSHA JOSEPH & PROFESSOR FREDDIE INAMBAO Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa ABSTRACT Reducing carbon-dioxide emissions that come from coal-fired power stations is a major challenge especially for developing countries. Renewable energy has reached and surpassed grid parity in many countries, however, due to the intermittent nature of solar and wind energy which are popular choices of renewable energy, energy storage becomes necessary to serve baseload energy requirements. The need for energy storage increases the cost of adopting renewable energy and in most cases makes the investment unfeasible. Furthermore, the spatial demands of renewable energy make it an unsuitable choice for many sites that have high baseload energy requirements such as airports. Emissions from natural gas-powered stations are half those of coal-fired power stations, therefore it is an attractive alternative in the quest for reducing carbon emissions in developing countries. This paper presents an investigation into natural gas as an energy source for airports in South Africa, providing a technical and financial evaluation (or technoeconomic assessment) of its adoption at airports. KEYWORDS: Techno-Economic Assessments, Alternative Energy, Feasibility of Natural Gas for Airports, Natural Gas Installations, Combined Heat and Power, Natural Gas Trigeneration for Airports, Natural Gas Turbine & Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engines Received: Jul 13, 2021; Accepted: Aug 03, 2021; Published: Sep 29, 2021; Paper Id: IJMPERDOCT202113 INTRODUCTION Natural gas is the cleanest of all fossil fuels and the main products of combustion of natural gas are carbon dioxide and water vapour. The combustion of natural gas releases small amounts of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), other reactive hydrocarbons and virtually no particulate matter [1]. For this reason, natural gas is a popular choice in replacing coal as a fuel source especially where space and cost is a limitation when considering renewable energy and its energy storage requirements. Some airports in South Africa face the challenge of high baseload energy demand with limited space for renewable energy and the added cost of energy storage makes renewable energy unfeasible. Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) is South Africa’s airport authority owning and operating nine airports in South Africa namely OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) (in Kempton Park, Gauteng), Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) (in the Western Cape), King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) (Durban, KwaZulu-Natal), Port Elizabeth International Airport (PEIA) (in the Eastern Cape), East London Airport (EL) (in the Eastern Cape), Bram Fischer International Airport (BFIA) (in Bloemfontein, Free State), George Airport (GG) (in the Eastern Cape), Upington International Airport (UPIA) (in the Northern Cape) and Kimberley Airport (KIM) (in the Northern Cape). Renewable energy can easily be incorporated into ACSA’s six regional airports as their operational hours and Original Article International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD) ISSN (P): 2249–6890; ISSN (E): 2249–8001 Vol. 11, Issue 5, Oct 2021, 193–214 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.