Deputy Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Dr Nobuhle Nkabane says that South Africa plans to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for a 2 500 MW nuclear programme by the end of March 2022 and complete the procurement in 2024. In an address to the sixty-fifth general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday, Nkabane reported that government had received positive responses from 25 companies to a request for information issued in June 2020 and stated that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) had concurred with a Ministerial section 34 determination for the procurement.
A court case filed by a losing bidder in South Africa’s emergency power program threatens to delay the provision of the electricity by months as banks balk at providing funding because of the risk of an adverse judgment.
Officials at three of the seven preferred bidders selected to provide power by August 2022 said the lenders are refusing to sign off on the projects until the court case is complete. They asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential.
South African companies Sasol and Imperial Logistics have entered into an agreement to explore options and solutions for decarbonising heavy-duty long-haul trucking, including through the use of fuel cell electric (FCE) trucks fuelled by green hydrogen. Sasol has already announced its intention to play a leading role in the development of a green hydrogen economy in South Africa, and to produce green hydrogen to help decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors such as freight transportation.
The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) launched its Integrated Renewable Energy and Resource Efficiency Programme (iREREP) by opening its request for information (RFI) on September 20, saying its 30-year lead time is aligned with government’s National Infrastructure Plan 2050 and will be rolled across various DPWI-managed buildings up to 2050. The iREREP’s RFI is intended to test the market for additional ideas and information which comprehensively looks at ways to deliver mutual value through strong partnerships across government and the private sector, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille said.
Cabinet has approved a revised – and more ambitious – Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) carbon mitigation target range for 2030 ahead of the upcoming COP26 gathering, which will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, in November. In a statement, Cabinet announced that South Africa had revised its 2030 climate change mitigation target range to 350 – 420 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt Co2-eq) for submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Cabinet has approved the setting up of the multi-purpose nuclear reactor project to replace the current SAFARI-1 nuclear research reactor, owned by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa). The research reactor, located at Pelindaba, west of Pretoria, is a leading global producer of medical radioisotopes used to treat cancer.
Talks about reducing the South African state power utility’s R402-billion debt to a manageable level are taking too long, its CEO Andre de Ruyter said. Eskom Holdings, which produces most of South Africa’s power, can’t meet its running and debt service costs and is dependent on government handouts to keep operating. It also needs to borrow more money to help it transition away from the polluting coal-fired plants used to produce the bulk of its electricity.
Integrated energy and chemicals company Sasol and the National Research Foundation (NRF) are requesting research proposals on science and engineering projects that can enable Sasol’s and South Africa’s energy transition, as well as the development of the country’s green economy.
Of interest to Sasol is research in hydrogen production, renewable energy, energy storage and carbon dioxide conversion to chemical and fuels – all key areas critical to enabling its environmental and business sustainability goals.
Embattled State-owned gas-to-liquids refiner PetroSA is considering plans to harness geothermal energy from its mature or depleted gas wells to produce electricity and delay decommissioning. Addressing a conference in Cape Town this week, Central Energy Fund (CEF) CEO Dr Ishmael Poolo reported that PetroSA, which is a CEF subsidiary, was facing a “decommissioning liability monster” and that various prospects were being considered to repurpose the ailing operation.
The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) has been named as a respondent in an application filed by local renewable energy supplier Suntech Solar Power South Africa earlier this month. Suntech Solar has taken the decision to challenge the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme’s (RMIPPPP’s) decision-making process and the associated empirical data used that led to retrospective exemptions from designated local content (DLC) requirements.
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