A just energy transition that mitigates the risks and captures the benefits of renewable energy in developing countries can be achieved through a broad policy framework developed using energy justice as a key set of metrics, say development academics University of Hamburg political science professor Franziska Müller and University of Kassel research fellow Manuel Neumann. The ‘Assessing African Energy Transitions: Renewable Energy Policies, Energy Justice, and SDG 7’ research paper explores the limitations of existing energy transition policy frameworks and how these can be augmented to ensure the developmental effectiveness of renewable energy projects and the broader transition to low-carbon and sustainable energy sources.
The Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (RMIPPPP) is a progressive step in South Africa’s energy history and, if successful, could revolutionise the way power is generated and procured in the country, suggests Scatec sub-Saharan Africa GM Jan Fourie. He notes that purely renewables-based projects, like Scatec’, offer economic benefits in that all their costs are embedded in the initial capital expenditure and that no fuel is needed to run the project, meaning that there is no commodity risk and currency risk to government and no carbon tax.
The carnage of Ethiopia’s civil war is making its rulers less willing to compromise with Sudan and Egypt in a dispute over the imminent filling of its giant Nile dam, a Sudan official said, as his government urges the United Nations to prevent any unilateral move. With Ethiopia embroiled in an eight-month conflict in the Tigray region that’s sparked U.S. sanctions and famine conditions, authorities in the Horn of Africa country are taking a tougher line in foreign policy to bolster their domestic support, said Yasir Abbas, Sudan’s irrigation and water minister.
Cape Town-based heating solutions firm Calore Sustainable Energy (CSE) has developed a new biomass combustion technology that it claims delivers significant savings for industrial clients requiring heating solutions. Calore co-founder Davide Marchesini says that producing heat to generate hot air, hot water or steam, is a core aspect of many industries and contributes substantially to bottom-line costs.
Cementitious products manufacturer PPC is considering several initiatives aimed at lowering the carbon footprint of its operations and products as its far-reaching organisational and financial restructuring begins yielding results and creates space for the JSE-listed group to start focusing on its longer-term sustainability. CEO Roland van Wijnen tells Engineering News that several initiatives are being studied to help lower emissions at its manufacturing facilities, as well as to introduce lower-carbon products into the Southern African market.
Natural gas and helium producer Renergen has discovered helium at its Evander exploration rights prospect, with a concentration of 1.1% helium identified in the gas. Evander spans about 52 000 ha, with many abandoned holes drilled for coal and gold exploration. Evander is also conveniently located around 120 km from South Africa’s
The Africa Renewable Energy Fund (Aref) II has concluded its first close at €125-million, following a joint investment of €17.5-million from The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa and the Climate Technology Fund through the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Aref II, a successor to the original fund, is a ten-year closed-ended renewable energy private equity fund with a $300-million target capitalisation.
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has described the decision to lift the licence-exemption cap on own- or embedded-generation plants from 1 MW to 100 MW as not only positive for addressing South Africa’s immediate electricity shortages, but also as “the precursor to the development of a new electricity supply industry in South Africa, which is going to be driven by far greater market dynamics than has hitherto been the case”. In a virtual conversation directed by Citigroup chief country officer Peter Taylor as part of the SA Tomorrow conference, De Ruyter said the higher threshold would likely be an “important contributor to adding much-needed capacity to the grid”.
A floating gas-turbine generator meant to alleviate South Africa’s crippling power cuts has run into objections by oyster farmers and small-scale fishermen, who fear the environmental damage will destroy their livelihoods. The seafood sellers fear the 415 MW ship – to be moored for two decades at Saldanha Bay, 140 km north of Cape Town – will pump hot water into the bay and make endless noise, spoiling farmed oysters and scaring off fish as Africa’s most industrialised country scrambles to fix electricity problems.
Kenya Electricity Generating Co, Africa’s largest geothermal producer, joined a United Nations-backed emissions-reduction programme as it looks to begin a domestic carbon market. KenGen, as the State-run company is known, announced its participation in the Business Ambition for 1.5°C programme on Wednesday. Under the project, the company commits to emission-reduction targets through investments in green and clean energy to help combat global warming, as per the 2015 Paris Agreement guidelines.
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