South Africa needs to commit to transitioning to net-zero by 2050 – report

As a country with one of the most emissions-intensive power sectors in the world, and as a nation that is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, South Africa needs to commit to find ways to transition to a net-zero emission economy by 2050, National Business Initiative (NBI) CEO Joanne Yawitch asserts. She notes that, in particular, the country needs to understand the need to transition its economy and to decarbonise, as well as to build resilience to the impacts of climate change.
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Sixth IPCC climate assessment important for international climate policy – DFFE

The sixth assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an important contribution to enhancing scientific understanding on climate change that must inform international policy at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, in November, says Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy.

“Climate action remains a national and international priority and South Africa remains firmly committed to contributing our best effort towards the global cause of addressing climate change.

“In this regard, we will be submitting our revised Nationally Determined Contribution to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions to the UNFCCC ahead of COP 26.”

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Treasury publishes draft renewable energy premium rates

To allay uncertainties associated with the renewable energy (RE) premium rates of the Carbon Tax Act, the National Treasury has published a new draft RE Premium Notice, proposing the removal of the limitation of the tax period for which the RE premium rates would be applicable.

The Carbon Tax Act came into effect in June 2019 to help ease the electricity sector transition and to further promote investment in renewable energy, thereby provisioning for electricity generators to offset additional purchases of renewable electricity against their carbon tax liability for the first phase of the carbon tax until December 31, 2022.

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Polihali dam construction tender marks start of final water transfer component

The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) says the Polihali dam construction tender process marks the start of the final construction phase of the water transfer component under the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and follows on the tender, issued in May, for the construction of the Polihali Transfer Tunnel. LHDA announced the launch of the tender on August 6 and tender documents were made available for download or collection from the LHDA from August 9. Interested and suitably qualified tenderers have until November 12 to submit their proposals. A virtual pre-tender meeting will be held on August 23, with a site visit scheduled on August 31.
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Solidarity welcomes investigation into Medupi Unit 4’s explosion

Trade union Solidarity says it supports State-owned power utility Eskom’s investigation following an explosion at Unit 4 of the Medupi coal-fired power station, in Lephalale, on August 8. Eskom had confirmed on August 9 that the unit generator had been severely damaged in the explosion, which occurred during the displacement of hydrogen with carbon dioxide and air, respectively, for the purposes of finding an external leak.
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Boikanyo Solar comes on line in the Northern Cape

Boikanyo Solar, situated in the Siyancuma local municipality, close to Douglas, in the Northern Cape, started commercial operations earlier this year, having reached grid code compliance on April 9. This project, which took a year to build, is part of a portfolio of six projects owned by the same shareholders and procured under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme Bid Window 4, and is the last of the six to come online.
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Absa completes R5.2bn debt refinancing for three Globeleq power plants

Independent power producer Globeleq and financial services firm Absa have completed the senior debt refinancing of three of Globeleq’s renewable energy power plants in South Africa, the companies said on August 10. The purpose of the refinancing is to enhance the projects’ capital structures, allowing for the release of value to shareholders and the reduction of the tariff to the national utility and, ultimately, consumers in South Africa.
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Explosion damages Medupi’s Unit 4

Power utility Eskom has confirmed that an explosion at the Medupi power station’s Unit 4 generator on August 8 has resulted in extensive damage to the generator. Unit 4 had been on a short-term outage since August 6 and the explosion occurred during the displacement of hydrogen with carbon dioxide and air, respectively, for the purposes of finding an external leak.
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Major new climate report puts pressure on COP26 to ‘consign coal to history’

A landmark report by climate change scientists released Monday is expected to ratchet up the pressure on world leaders to rapidly end the use of polluting fossil fuels. Some of the most important readers of the 3 949-page report by the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—or at least the more manageable “summary for policymakers”—will soon be headed to Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26 climate talks, also organized by the UN. In less than three months’ time, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host 197 countries for negotiations aimed at limiting global temperature rise, which is already causing wildfires and flooding around the world.
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Renewable-energy-focused entity launched to advance uptake in Africa

African Rainbow Energy and Power (Arep) and Absa have launched a new entity, called African Rainbow Energy – an “African-led, world-class, renewable-energy investment platform”. Arep will make an initial investment of assets covering wind, solar photovoltaic (PV) and biomass projects with an installed capacity of more than 700 MW of renewable energy.
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