The use of recycled plastic used to store electrical energy demonstrated in the US

Researchers in the US have successfully used recycled plastic to create rapidly-charging energy storage devices. The research team is composed of engineering professors and students at the University of California Riverside (UCR), and they have been working on using sustainable resources – ranging from glass bottles to portabella mushrooms – to create improved energy storage materials for some years now. Their latest development involves the ‘upcycling’ of waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic. PET is widely used in consumer products, most prominently in soft drink (in US parlance, soda) bottles. 
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DMRE calls for engagement over litigation following IPP judgment

The Department of  Mineral Resources and Energy has urged stakeholders in the electricity industry to engage on an ongoing basis to avoid litigation, following a court ruling this week referring a dispute between the Minister and the City of Cape Town over the procurement  of electricity from independent power producers back to the parties to seek a settlement. The City of Cape Town has, since 2015, been in dispute with the national government and the National Energy Regulator of South Africa regarding its right to contract directly with IPPs, after it failed to receive a response from the Energy Minister to its request for a Ministerial determination under Section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act to enable it to do so.
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Eskom to resume rolling power cuts due to generation unit breakdowns

South Africa’s electricity utility Eskom said on Thursday it would implement rotational powercuts from 8am to 10pm  due to an increase in breakdowns of its generation units, warning that the blackouts could continue into the weekend. “The delay of the return to service of two units at Duvha and Tutuka and the breakdowns of four units at Kriel, Tutuka and Kendal have resulted in the need for load-shedding today,” it said in a statement.
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