Zimbabwe’s State electricity company is awaiting the outcome of international arbitration in a currency dispute with the country’s biggest private power producer that’s holding up other investments. Nyangani Renewable Energy, which operates solar and hydropower plants in Zimbabwe and Malawi, took the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Co. to the Johannesburg branch of the International Chamber of Commerce to rule on the disagreement over a currency conversion agreement.
In this opinion article, law firm Webber Wentzel’s Jason van der Poel, Alexandra Felekis and Mzukisi Kota write about uncertainties that remain following the latest amendments to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act.
Various challenges in the South African energy sector must be addressed for wider socioeconomic advancement – for which the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) has developed a new strategic plan, positioning it to address key energy sector issues. SANEDI interim CEO Lethabo Manamela explains that since SANEDI was established as an agency of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in 2011, it has been directing applied energy research and implementing energy efficiency measures in the country, working with local and international partners.
South Africa has started geological mapping at the country’s first carbon capture and storage (CCS) site, where it plans to inject vast quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) deep underground from 2023, a senior Council for Geoscience official said. The project will be based around the town of Leandra, Mpumalanga province, in South Africa’s north east, a carbon emissions hotspot and home to several coal-fired power stations as well as Sasol’s Secunda coal-to-liquids fuel plant, the world’s largest.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) reports with “extreme concern” that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) electricity subcommittee has conditionally indicated approval, on August 20, of the government’s proposal that South Africa should build another 2 500 MW of nuclear power generation capacity.
Outa points out that the Nersa subcommittee’s decision is only a recommendation to the Nersa board, which will then take the final decision.
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has gazetted an updated version of the amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act that he first gazetted on August 12. The update, which is dated August 19, makes it clear that electricity sales from sub-100 MW projects, which are exempted from licensing with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), can be to “one or more customers”.
The Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO) has released the project names and technologies bid in repones to bid window five of Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), the bid deadline for which was August 16. The list released shows that 63 solar photovoltaic (PV) projects have been bid alongside 39 onshore wind projects.
Modern civilisation was built on fossil fuels, with the invention and commercialisation of the internal combustion engine during the 1800s setting the stage for petroleum-based vehicles to be dominant worldwide for the next 150 years. Various oil majors continue to produce huge volumes of oil and natural gas, owing to fossil fuels still being used to meet the majority of the world’s energy requirements.
State-owned power utility Eskom is progressing with plans to repower and repurpose some of its coal power stations, build greenfield power plants with cleaner technologies and invest in necessary grid infrastructure to support these plans. Repowering and repurposing the Komati power station, in Mpumalanga, is being prioritised by Eskom this year.
National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) is appealing a High Court application that State-owned power utility Eskom brought against Nersa last year, which states that Nersa exceeded its boundaries regarding the determination on tariff adjustments requested by Eskom. Energy sector law firm LNP Attorneys CEO Nikita Lalla explains that Eskom’s argument – that Nersa had “gone beyond its statutory or regulatory regime in regard to determining tariff increases and the information the regulator was allowed to take into consideration in that endeavour” – was upheld by the courts.
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