SAPVIA releases best practice operations, maintenance guidelines

Industry body South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) and Europe energy market organisation SolarPower Europe have released the ‘Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Best Practice Guidelines for South Africa’.  The guidelines build on SolarPower Europe’s ‘European O&M Best Practice Guidelines’ and adapts key recommendations to the South African context.
/by

Eskom suggests modular microgrid option to power outlying communities in Africa

Should State power utility Eskom show the way to a cleaner and greener energy future through its 15-year roadmap, group CEO Andre de Ruyter believes it will demonstrate Africa’s ability to leapfrog older technologies and “move straight to the latest technologies”. Eskom, he notes, is responsible for about 25% of Africa’s carbon emissions, making it the largest electricity generator on the continent.
/by

De Ruyter suggests 15-yr roadmap for South Africa’s just energy transition

While there has been “very positive engagement” in the lead up to COP26, power utility Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter stresses that the coal value chains and communities that surround its coal-fired generation “cannot be left in the lurch” as foreign governments look to support South Africa in its just energy transition. If that were to happen, De Ruyter says, “socioeconomic misery and ghost towns” will be left behind and unemployment figures will worsen.
/by

Eskom’s R178bn grid plan points to ‘scary’ step change in expansionary capex

State-owned electricity utility Eskom has outlined a R178-billion grid investment plan for the coming ten years, which is premised on a dramatic acceleration of expansionary capital expenditure. The Transmission Development Plan (TDP) for the period 2022 to 2031 is largely geared towards expanding the network to enable the integration of 30 GW of new, mostly renewable, generation capacity.
/by

Construction of Chinese small modular reactor achieves major milestone

A major structural component for China’s ACP100 demonstration small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) has been installed at the Changjiang nuclear power plant (NPP), on the Chinese island province of Hainan, “World Nuclear News” has reported. The component is a steel containment vessel bottom head, which is shaped like a giant bowl and forms, as its name says, the bottom element of the reactor containment vessel. The bottom head was installed on the SMR NPP’s concrete foundation plate. The internal components of a reactor vessel are supported by the bottom head or by the containment vessel’s cylindrical side wall. The side wall is itself also mounted on the bottom head. The vessel is completed by a top head, shaped pretty much like an inverted bowl, and usually removable (to facilitate refuelling).
/by

SAWEA urges industry members, stakeholders to support global net-zero push

Industry organisation the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) urges key stakeholders, including governments, economies and communities, to put policies in place that will raise ambitions and remove barriers to the massive scale up in investments in wind power to help reach global net-zero climate targets. As a member and participant in the Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC’s) COP26 Working Group, and working in collaboration with its global counterparts, SAWEA joins the GWEC in making this call ahead of COP26 taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to November 12.
/by

Stage 2 load-shedding to continue until Saturday morning

Power utility Eskom has announced that, owing to a shortage of generation capacity, Stage 2 load-shedding will be implemented from 09:00 on October 26 to 05:00 on October 30. “While Eskom teams have successfully returned a unit each at the Kusile, Matimba and Arnot power stations during the early hours of this morning, further delays in returning other units to service have exacerbated the capacity constraints, hampering the ability to replenish the emergency generation reserves. 
/by