South Africa’s Gas Act defines “gas” as natural gas (CH4) and hydrogen (H2). Hydrogen will, in the future, be a suitable substitute for natural gas to support decarbonisation, says South African Oil and Gas Alliance (SAOGA) Gas Economy Leadership Group chairperson Craig Morkel. However, the development of the hydrogen industry first requires that a gas market be developed.
The anticipated decline of Mozambique’s Pande & Temane gasfields creates a need for new sources of natural gas for the local industry, says engineering services consulting firm WSP regional director Martin Mkhabela. “The quickest and most cost-effective option to fill the gap is through the importation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the Port of Richards Bay, utilising the gas-to-power programme as an anchor,” says Mkhabela.
With South Africa needing more listings on its stock exchanges, what can be done to encourage companies in general and junior mining companies in particular to go public? A lot of the building blocks are in place. South Africa has a stock exchange that punches way above its weight relative to the size of the economy. The country also has about R9-trillion in contractual and other savings, plus a wonderful tradition of being a marketplace for mining companies.
South Africa’s seventh ‘National Greenhouse-Gas (GHG) Inventory’ report for 2000 to 2017, released on August 24, shows that emissions have increased by 10.4% over the 17-year period. The report, published by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), covers sources of GHG emissions, and removals by sinks, resulting from human or anthropogenic activities. All the major GHGs, namely carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbons, and hydrofluorocarbons, are included.
National Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane is warning that major Budget cuts will be required to offset a range of expenditure pressures that had arisen as a result of recent government decisions, including the 2021/22 wage settlement, which would increase the public sector compensation bill by a further R20-billion. Speaking during a virtual briefing of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations, Mogajane said that the 1.5% wage settlement would cost R20-billion more than the compensation ceiling outlined in the February Budget.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has provided an updated timetable for the implementation of its long-term electricity procurement programmes, which are being pursued in line with a Section 34 Ministerial determination, published in September 2020, and catering for the procurement of more than 11 800 MW of new generation and energy storage capacity. Following a seven-year interruption, the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) resumed in April with the release of a request for proposals (RFP) for bid window five (BW5), through which government is seeking to procure 2 600 MW of new solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind capacity.
Zimbabwe’s State electricity company is awaiting the outcome of international arbitration in a currency dispute with the country’s biggest private power producer that’s holding up other investments. Nyangani Renewable Energy, which operates solar and hydropower plants in Zimbabwe and Malawi, took the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Co. to the Johannesburg branch of the International Chamber of Commerce to rule on the disagreement over a currency conversion agreement.
In this opinion article, law firm Webber Wentzel’s Jason van der Poel, Alexandra Felekis and Mzukisi Kota write about uncertainties that remain following the latest amendments to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act.
Various challenges in the South African energy sector must be addressed for wider socioeconomic advancement – for which the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) has developed a new strategic plan, positioning it to address key energy sector issues. SANEDI interim CEO Lethabo Manamela explains that since SANEDI was established as an agency of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in 2011, it has been directing applied energy research and implementing energy efficiency measures in the country, working with local and international partners.
South Africa has started geological mapping at the country’s first carbon capture and storage (CCS) site, where it plans to inject vast quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) deep underground from 2023, a senior Council for Geoscience official said. The project will be based around the town of Leandra, Mpumalanga province, in South Africa’s north east, a carbon emissions hotspot and home to several coal-fired power stations as well as Sasol’s Secunda coal-to-liquids fuel plant, the world’s largest.
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