Eskom says the decision by government to refuse several applications for the postponement of the implementation of some of the air quality compliance timelines set in legislation will result in the immediate shutting of 16 000 MW of capacity and have a “very significant impact on Eskom’s ability to provide electricity”. It is, thus, proposing an engagement with stakeholders on the “way forward”.
Renewable energy company Scatec has entered into a lease agreement with electricity company Eneo in Cameroon to deliver two hybrid solar and storage plants totalling 36 MW solar and 20 MW/19 MWh storage. The plants will supply low-cost, clean and reliable electricity in Maroua and Guider in the Grand-North of Cameroon, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is partnering with Scatec’s Release to realise these redeployable projects.
Financial services firm Standard Bank has issued its first local Tier 2 capital qualifying green bond to finance renewable energy projects in South Africa and increased its social bond issued in August to finance mortgage loans in the affordable housing target market, with a focus on women borrowers. The new ten-year, R1.4-billion bond is listed on the JSE Sustainability segment and proceeds will be used to finance renewable energy projects in South Africa.
State-owned electricity utility Eskom continues to maintain that its revenue application, including the implementation of regulatory clearing account (RCA) decisions already made, would translate to a 20.5% increase in the standard tariff on April 1, rather than the 32.15% hike outlined in a ‘pro forma’ table produced by the regulator. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) figure, which has been shared with Engineering News & Mining Weekly, is based on revenue from standard tariff customers rising to R302.9-billion in 2022/23, from R245.7-billion in 2021/22.
The adoption of a cleaning method from the oil and gas industry has allowed the decontamination of pipe sections from the former Harwell nuclear research site in the UK. As a result, instead of having to be stored as low-level nuclear waste, the sections of pipe can be recycled. “By adapting a proven technology and applying it to the treatment of the pipework, the amount of waste that would otherwise need to be consigned to the low-level radioactive waste repository has been drastically reduced and only small volumes of secondary waste will need processing for onward treatment and disposal,” explained Low Level Waste Repository Ltd (LLWR) Waste Management Services Consultant and Magnox Relationship Manager Carly Sutton. LLWR manages and operates the UK’s permanent repository for low level nuclear waste, near Drigg in West Cumbria in England.
An Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) comprising only solar, wind and storage (SWS) would deliver not only a load-shedding-free electricity supply industry but also create the platform for new industries to be built on near-zero-marginal-cost excess green electricity, a South African energy expert shows. Detailed modelling undertaken by Clyde Mallinson outlines that this alternative SWS IRP would involve the deployment, between 2021 and 2040, of 40 GW of new wind, 230 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and 35 GW/290 GWh of storage, comprising mainly of battery energy storage and mechanical gravitational potential energy storage.
Eskom CEO André de Ruyter has responded to an open letter submitted to him by the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa), dated November 23.
In the open letter, Seifsa wrote on behalf of 18 employer organisations, representing 170 000 employees, asking for his assurance that corruption at the power utility is being rooted out , as well as asking for Eskom to effect greater predictability on blackouts for businesses going forward.
Nongovernmental organisation (NGO) Innovation: Africa has set itself the ambitious goal of impacting more than ten-million people positively by the end of 2026, through the installation of solar power in schools and medical centers and the implementation of solar water pumping systems in rural African villages. To date, the organisation has completed over 600 solar and water projects and over the next five years, aims to complete more than 2 000 projects. This goal equates to one project, or installation, a day.
Global wind and solar company Mainstream Renewable Power (RP) announced in October that 12 of its projects have won preferred bidder status in round five of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The wind and solar projects, which have a total capacity of 1.27 GW, represent half of the total allocation in the round, which was the most competitive to date, being almost four times oversubscribed.
Renewable power generation company Lekela Power says its projects have grown from the 80 MW produced from wind farms in Noupoort, in the Northern Cape of South Africa, in 2016, to more than 1 GW. “In South Africa, through the various rounds of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), Lekela Power has invested in five projects of up to 620 MW of generation through wind farms across the country. This makes up the biggest part of our portfolio,” says Lekela Power COO Chris Ford.
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