South Africa’s green hydrogen ‘first mover’ opportunity based on three structural advantages

South Africa has three favourable structural characteristics that potentially give it a “first mover advantage” to become a global green-hydrogen leader, Sasol CEO Fleetwood Grobler argued in his address during a ‘Hydrogen Economy Discussion’ facilitated by well-known mining personality Bernard Swanepoel. The first advantage relates to South Africa’s and Southern Africa’s large-scale, high-quality renewable-energy potential.
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Ukrainian, US companies enter agreement to build new nuclear reactor

Ukrainian nuclear energy company Energoatom has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with US nuclear manufacturing company Westinghouse, for the completion of the former’s Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant (NPP) unit 4, using the latter’s AP1000 reactor technology, World Nuclear News has reported. Khmelnitsky 4 was originally intended to be a Russian-technology VVER design but its construction was halted when it was only 28% complete. Construction of the new unit would be significantly accelerated by the fact that major AP1000 reactor components had already been built and were currently stored in the US, in a facility in the state of South Carolina. These components have been inspected by a delegation from Energoatom, including its acting director (head), Petro Kotin.
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Absa achieves compliance with new building energy performance requirements

Financial services provider Absa is the first bank to achieve compliance with the country’s new building energy performance regulations, the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) reports. In December 2020, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) gazetted ‘Regulations for the Mandatory Display and Submission of Energy Performance Certificates for Buildings’.
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One-of-a-kind electricity forum to hold inaugural event this month

The inaugural Electricity Forum will be held on September 28 and 30 and will kick off a multi-stakeholder drive to turn the country’s multiple power challenges into opportunities to spur growth, investment and jobs. The initiative is being spearheaded by the Manufacturing Circle, which has partnered with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), to bring to fruition the one-of-a-kind initiative to boost manufacturing by catalysing the initiatives required to tackle the country’s crippling electricity constraints.
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World’s largest plant capturing carbon from air starts in Iceland

The world’s largest plant that sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and deposits it underground is due to start operating on Wednesday, the company behind the nascent green technology said. Swiss start-up Climeworks, which specialises in capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air, has partnered with Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix to develop a plant that sucks out up to 4 000 t/y of carbon dioxide (CO2).
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