50 MW De Wildt Solar farm enters commercial operation

The De Wildt Solar farm, situated within the Madibeng local municipality, close to the town of Brits, in the North West province, on January 23 entered into commercial operations, having achieved facility completion.

This 50 MW photovoltaic project is the fourth utility-scale plant that has come on line in the North West in under five months, helping to make the province a serious player in the renewable energy sector. All four projects are 100% South African-owned and do not only deliver much needed power to the country’s national grid, but also provide benefits to the local rural communities through impactful economic development programmes.

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Energy efficiency incentive applications surged in lockdown, says Sanedi

South African businesses are increasingly prioritising energy efficiency as they seek to navigate a more challenging business environment, with energy bills continuing to rise and carbon tax now a reality. The South African National Energy Development Institute (Sanedi) reports that it has seen an increase in the number of Section 12L Energy Efficiency Tax Incentive applications since March last year. 
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Transitioning fossil-fuel labour forces into new sectors critical for ‘clean, just energy …

The chair of a new global commission established to offer governments guidance on making their energy transitions more “people-centred” says that the creation of green jobs and the transitioning of existing fossil-fuel labour forces into new sectors will be “key factors for a clean, just energy transition”. Danish Energy and Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen, who chairs the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) new global commission on people-centred clean energy transitions that is being led by Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, said on Tuesday that it was not enough to show that green industries were more job-intensive than the oil, gas or coal sectors.
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SA plans three renewable energy rounds over coming year

South Africa plans to launch three procurement rounds for 6 800 MW of renewable energy over the next year, as well as a combined 5 000 MW of new coal, gas and storage, a presentation by the governing African National Congress (ANC) showed. The presentation, made at a three-day meeting of party officials and allies that ended on Sunday and shared with Reuters by two sources, showed the ANC planned to launch the first renewables round in January or February for 2 600 MW of wind and solar, with another 2 600 MW round in August and a third for 1 600 MW in January or February 2022.
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Eskom approaches court to have R23bn equity injection added back this year

State-owned electricity utility Eskom will make the case later this month for the immediate execution of a High Court order stipulating that an amount of R23-billion stripped unlawfully from its allowable revenue in 2019 by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) be added back during its 2021/22 financial year. Should it succeed, the standard average electricity tariff would rise by 15.6% on April 1, instead of the 5.01% already sanctioned by Nersa.
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Moody’s upgrades Enel’s long-term credit rating

Credit rating company Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the long-term rating of energy company Enel to Baa1, from the previous level of Baa2, with a stable outlook.

The ratings agency has also affirmed the Prime-2 short-term ratings of the subsidiaries Enel Finance International and Enel Finance America.

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Eskom confirms tropical storm has ‘not had any major negative impact’ on operations

State-owned power utility Eskom has confirmed that tropical storm Eloise has, at this stage, not had any major negative impact on its operations. The utility, however, says power lines in some parts of the Mpumalanga, Limpopo and northern KwaZulu-Natal provinces did experience localised outages as a result of trees and poles falling on power lines districts.
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MMC condemns rampant cable theft in Joburg

City of Johannesburg Environment and Infrastructure Services MMC Councillor Mpho Moerane has expressed concern about the increase in electricity cable theft incidents across the city.  Since the start of the current financial year, cables worth over R14-million have been stolen.
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100 MW Kipeto wind power project connected to Kenyan grid

Renewable energy company Kipeto Energy (KEP) has connected the Kipeto wind farm to the national grid and will start generating power in the next week. KEP has connected a 17-km-long 220 KV high-voltage transmission line, linking the facility to the national grid at the Isinya substation, and signalling the start of the go-live process.
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Evaluation of emergency-power bids ‘by February’, with renewables bidding to open in …

The evaluation of the 28 bids received under South Africa’s Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) is anticipated to be concluded by February 2021, the IPP Office has confirmed with Engineering News. The preferred bidders, it adds, will be announced as soon as the recommendations from the evaluation team have been approved by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE).
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