Germany is looking at using ammonia and methanol as ways to deliver hydrogen as a clean-burning fuel for industry, part of its effort to make Europe’s biggest economy climate-neutral by 2050. The government is financing a feasibility study to evaluate ways of transporting hydrogen and is focusing on the two chemicals as a possible solution, according to Stefan Kaufmann, a member of Germany’s parliament who is responsible for coordinating the use of green hydrogen in Germany.
French Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness Minister Franck Riester, who is leading a business delegation to South Africa this week, reports that French firms will follow-up their R20-billion in investment commitments made to South Africa in 2019 with new promises worth a further R14-billion. French companies made pledges worth a combined R20-billion during the second yearly South Africa Investment Conference, which took place in Sandton, Gauteng, in November last year.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has highlighted the importance of project preparation to unlocking the mostly private finance that will be needed to realise government’s goal of investing R1-trillion in infrastructure over the coming four years and turning South Africa into a “building site”. Speaking at an Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) roundtable in Gauteng on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said that private sector funding and high-impact capital funding would be secured only if a credible pipeline of “bankable” projects was developed.
Saudi Arabian power generation company Acwa Power’s Bokpoort concentrated solar power (CSP) plant, in the Northern Cape, has become the first renewable facility on the continent to complete a full week of continuous around-the-clock operation. The operation set the new African continent benchmark by achieving 13 days, or 312 hours, of continuous operations on October 23, which is almost double the previous record it had set in March 2016.
State-owned power utility Eskom has introduced its project for the construction of the 282 km of 400 kV transmission line, with associated feeder and transformer bays, which will be construction between the Gromis substation, in the Northern Cape, and the Juno substation, in the Western Cape. The utility met with various districts and local municipalities from the two provinces on October 29.
Energy and chemicals group Sasol reports that it has secured more than 100 000 carbon credits in a transaction concluded under the South African Carbon Offset Administration System (COAS), set up to facilitate the listing, transfer and retirement of such credits to offset carbon tax liabilities. In a statement the JSE-listed company said the transaction had been concluded with Bethlehem Hydro, a South African independent power producer (IPP), and that it was among the first concluded under COAS, which was launched earlier this year.
Energy and chemicals group Sasol reports that it has secured more than 100 000 carbon credits in a transaction concluded under the South African Carbon Offset Administration System (COAS), set up to facilitate the listing, transfer and retirement of such credits to offset carbon tax liabilities. In a statement the JSE-listed company said the transaction had been concluded with Bethlehem Hydro, a South African independent power producer (IPP), and that it was among the first concluded under COAS, which was launched earlier this year.
South Africa’s Independent Power Producer (IPP) Office has confirmed an extension to the bid submission deadline, to December 22, for the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), under which government aims to procure some 2 000 MW of dispatchable generation capacity for operation by mid-2022. The original bid submission deadline was November 24.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Friday that a “second round” of work is being initiated in an effort to find a solution to Eskom’s unsustainable debt burden in line with the recent social compact between government, community, labour and business to “mobilise funding to address Eskom’s financial crisis in a sustainable manner”. Speaking virtually during the release of Eskom’s delayed financial results for the year to March 31, 2020, he said the “first round” had already taken place early in 2020, and ahead of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which various options had been examined.
African independent power producer Globeleq has appointed Gionata Visconti COO, effective early in January next year.
He will be responsible for all aspects of the company’s operations and provide support for in-country governance work and asset management.
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