Judge Jody Kollapen has reserved judgment in Eskom’s application to have the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) rejection of its latest revenue application set aside as irrational and unlawful. Following a virtual hearing on December 1, Kollapen indicated that he expected to publish a determination, along with his reasons, next week.
About 700 houses in Diepkloof Zone 3, Soweto, are in the dark after Eskom disconnected its power supply to the area. Eskom accused residents of illegally connecting electricity to their homes and disconnected them last week.
South African state power utility Eskom sees an opportunity to emerge from years of crisis by shifting from coal-fired power generation towards natural gas and renewables, its chief executive told Reuters. Eskom has implemented power cuts for more than a decade in Africa’s most industrialised nation that have held back economic growth and deterred investment. It has roughly R400-billion of debt that it services through regular government bailouts.
Stronger policies and raised climate goals leading into COP26 are driving renewables to new records, but faster deployment across all key sectors is needed to reach net zero, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says in a new report. It adds that the growth of the world’s capacity to generate electricity from solar panels, wind turbines and other renewable technologies is on course to accelerate over the coming years, with this year expected to set a fresh all-time record for new installations.
US automotive manufacturer Tesla’s South African partner, Rubicon Group brought the first Tesla Model X Performance Edition all-electric sports utility vehicle into the country to raise renewable energy’s profile in the country. Simone Liedtke, who saw a demonstration of the vehicle, tells us more.