Botswana woos Chinese investors as lenders shun coal projects

At a time when funding for fossil fuel projects is drying up, Botswana is racing to develop six new coal mines and a rail link for exports, with the government prepared to put its own money into the projects. The southern African nation, the world’s second-biggest diamond producer, has more than 200-billion tons of untapped coal reserves. To kickstart the industry, it has turned to investors from the largest global coal consumer, China.
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Schneider’s Africa president joins Res4Africa in green energy drive

Nonfprofit think tank Res4Africa Foundation has appointed technology company Schneider Electric’s Middle East and Africa president Caspar Herzberg to its executive committee.

Res4Africa has, since 2012, been promoting a green energy transition in Africa and appointed Herzberg for four years to contribute to stakeholder engagement in government and the private sector.

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Ivorian engineer wins Royal Academy award for biowaste innovation

Côte d’Ivoire chemical engineer Noël N’guessan has won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s 2021 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. He developed biowaste equipment for smallholder farmers in West Africa to efficiently manage and generate income from biowaste.
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Benefits of licence exemption depend also on expedited effort from enviro, water departments

Now that the licence exemption threshold for self-generation has been extended to 100 MW, it encourages the development of a robust embedded energy sector, says law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH). CDH says the risks to South Africa’s energy security, in addition to the economic impacts of Covid-19, have intensified the business sector’s long-standing call for increased private power generation capacity.  
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Giant dam is messing up water in Africa even before it is filled

As Ethiopia begins diverting 13.5-billion cubic meters of water from the Blue Nile river to its controversial new megadam, residents of Sudan to the south fear a repetition of last year’s devastating drought. The second stage of filling the $4.5-billion reservoir is ratcheting up tensions between Ethiopia and neighbours Sudan and Egypt, who depend on the Nile to support farming and generate power for their economies.
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Another hurdle in embedded generation licensing exemption saga

Creamer Media’s Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe’s latest update on amendments to be made to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act to lift the licensing-exemption threshold for embedded generation projects to 100 MW and what this means for the energy sector.
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Drone and NDT firm join forces

Materials testing and inspection service provider Dekra Industrial has joined forces with aerial solutions and drone services company Sky Africa Drones to offer a drone inspection service that combines the technologies of high scope non-destructive testing (NDT) systems with the manoeuvrability of a drone. Sky Africa Drones is a fully licensed drone company specialising in security surveillance and provides quality aerial data fast and accurately.
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Range standardised for mining and construction

In 2020 Atlas Copco Power Technique announced the launch of its PAC H centrifugal pump range, which consists of four models, for high-pressure applications. The pumps have been designed to reduce downtime, prolong the life span of the equipment used in an application and save operational costs. The PAC H centrifugal pump can handle liquids containing solids of up to 89 mm in size, making the pump particularly well suited to industrial applications, such as water transfer in the oil and gas sector, applications in construction and at municipalities, as well as sewerage bypass systems, explains Atlas Copco Power Technique portable products business line manager David Stanford.
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Kyalami receives energy performance certificate

The Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit and International Convention Centre has received its energy performance certificate with a rating of B, says South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) energy efficiency and corporate communications GM Barry Bredenkamp. “The facility is comprehensive, with the main building about 14 500 m2 in size. The energy requirements are significant, and the rating is to be applauded.”
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Mantashe ‘grapples’ with difference between a permit and licence as 100-MW reform drafting …

Mineral Resource and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says that a revised amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act, reflecting an increase in the licence-exemption cap from 1 MW to 100 MW, will be finalised within the coming week and will be shared with The Presidency “so that we reconcile our approach”. However, speaking during an Absa event on Wednesday, Mantashe struck a somewhat ominous tone when he said that he and his officials were still grappling over the distinction between the registration “permit” to be issued by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) under the new regulation and a licence.
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