South Africa’s Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, will co-chair a high-level Ministerial panel this week on ‘Ensuring People-Centred Transitions’ as part of a global ‘Net Zero Summit’ being hosted jointly by International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Fatih Birol and COP26 President Alok Sharma. The panel is one of five to be convened as part of the virtual summit, which will take place on March 31 and will be livestreamed globally.
Working in collaboration with conservation organisations, BioTherm Energy’s Excelsior wind energy facility, in the Western Cape, is pioneering the wind industry’s approach to conserving avifauna.
The programmes that are being implemented go beyond looking at the potential impact of the wind farm on birds through mitigation, but are also aimed at a net gain in priority species, including Cape Vulture, Black Harrier, Verreaux’s Eagle and Martial Eagle.
Fair Cape Dairies has installed a 560 kW solar power plant at its operations, allowing it to produce fresh milk off grid during daylight hours. This facility will generate about one-million kilowatt-hours of energy and will save about 400 000 kg of carbon dioxide a year.
If it wants the legal right to keep the Koeberg nuclear power station running, Eskom will have to convince nuclear regulators – and, perhaps, the courts – that it has the money to do so. Under rules published by minerals and energy minister Gwede Mantashe Friday, anyone who wants to keep an old nuclear generator going is required to “demonstrate availability of financial and human resources” for as long as the extension applied for.
Karpowership, a unit of the Turkish Karadeniz Energy Group, is on track for its longest contract to date to supply power from vessels to South Africa in a deal worth as much as R218-billion ($15-billion). The company that advertises a “fast, flexible, reliable” solution of floating electricity generation was named last week as a preferred bidder for three projects fueled by liquefied natural gas to provide 1 220 MW of electricity. The program is aimed at closing a supply gap in South Africa that’s resulting in periodic blackouts.
Big business in South Africa plans to approach government with a series of solutions aimed at narrowing the ever-widening gap between the country’s fixed-investment spending targets and the dismal reality of declining spending on both social and economic infrastructure. Through the National Development Plan, South Africa has set an official goal of increasing gross fixed capital formation to 30% of gross domestic product (GDP) with the aim of using such spending to create the platform for economic growth and improved service delivery.
Creamer Media’s Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about the details of the nature and pricing for projects selected as preferred bidders for the emergency bid window; the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s view of the future; and global wind installations having reached a record level in 2020 but still not being sufficient to meet net zero carbon targets.
Engineering solutions specialist BMG plays a critical role in the sugar sector, not only during the operational period of sugar production, but also in off-crop seasons, when maintenance and refurbishment on sugar farms and at mills is essential. BMG works closely with sugar farmers and engineers at mills by providing engineering components and support services, to enhance production efficiencies, minimise downtime and extend equipment service life.
Despite Covid-afflicted 2020 emerging as the best-ever year for global wind-energy installations, a new industry report argues that the rate of yearly deployments will have to more than double before the end of the current decade if onshore and offshore wind generators are to make their rightful contribution to restricting the rise in the average global temperature to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC’s) newly released ‘Global Wind Report 2021’ shows that installations increased by 53% to 93 GW last year when compared with 2019.
South Africa’s Cabinet has approved the country’s updated draft Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in response to climate change, which will be released for public consultation next week. The updated NDC outlines South Africa’s target for limiting greenhouse gas emissions as required in line with the country’s status as a signatory to the Paris Agreement on climate change.
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