Eskom confirms load-shedding to be suspended on Thursday, but warns system constraints remain

Power utility Eskom on Wednesday evening confirmed that load-shedding would be suspended from 05:00 on Thursday morning, but warned that there were still significant risks to some generating units, which could force Eskom to implement load-shedding at short notice should it lose further generation capacity.

“We have used the past six days of load-shedding to conduct some repairs to generating units and to continue with the maintenance programme.

“Even though we were able to replenish emergency generation reserves, we have had to continue relying on these to support power system over this period,” the utility noted in a statement.

/by

South African needs to ramp up critical minerals exploration as world decarbonises – study

The South African mining sector can remain internationally competitive and support socioeconomic development only if it drives decarbonisation and adapts to the global shift in commodity demand towards minerals used in green sectors such as renewable electricity and electric vehicles (EVs), a new study shows. However, the country will have to materially ramp up its exploration of the critical minerals required for emerging green technologies if it is to succeed in offsetting the decline in coal mining, as well as some platinum group metals (PGMs), notably palladium.
/by

De Ruyter: Eskom working to avoid load-shedding during elections

Eskom is working to avoid load-shedding for the election season, says the power utility’s CEO André de Ruyter. De Ruyter was speaking during an interview with eNCA on Wednesday morning. The power utility last week Thursday introduced stage 2 load-shedding. At the time Eskom was working on returning four units at its Tutuka power station, which experienced conveyor belt failures and boiler tube leaks.
/by

Ten EU countries call for the bloc to formally include nuclear in its future energy mix

Earlier this week, several newspapers across the European Union (EU) published a letter in support of nuclear energy, jointly signed by 15 Energy and Economy Ministers from ten EU countries, World Nuclear News has reported. The Ministers hailed from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. They jointly called for nuclear power to be formally included in the EU’s future low-carbon energy mix, and before the end of this year. (The EU now has 27 member states.) They stressed that decarbonising the EU economy required very rapid and deep changes in the bloc’s production and consumption of energy, in order to slash carbon dioxide emissions. This necessitated greatly increasing the electrification of economic and domestic activities, which would need a massive increase in electricity generation. The development of new low-carbon industries would also increase the future demand for electricity.
/by

South African emergency power plan hit by new graft allegations

DNG Energy, a losing bidder for State contracts to supply emergency power in South Africa, made fresh corruption allegations against a winning bidder, Karpowership, and a government official. In an October 12 supplementary affidavit to court papers, the first of which were filed in April, South Africa-based DNG alleged that businessmen who are now partnering Turkey’s Karpowership approached the firm’s chief executive officer seeking a bribe. In exchange, they would ensure that DNG won a contract, Aldworth Mbalati, the CEO of DNG, said in the papers, adding that he spurned their offer.
/by

IEA warns of more energy market volatility as transition investment lags

There is a looming risk of more turbulence ahead for energy markets, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns in its latest World Energy Outlook publication. “The world is not investing enough to meet its future energy needs, and uncertainties over policies and demand trajectories create a strong risk of a volatile period ahead for energy markets,” the 2021 edition of the flagship report warns.
/by