Business alliance joins appeal against DFFE’s Karpowership EIA rejections

The West Coast Black Business Alliance (WCBBA) has come on board alongside other organisations to appeal the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE’s) decision to not approve Karpowership South Africa’s environmental-impact assessments (EIAs) for three powership gas-to-power projects.

The WCBBA on July 7 said it would launch an independent appeal against the decision, as would the Eastern Cape Maritime Business Chamber (ECMBC) and the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

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Green Climate Fund contributes $170m to African energy access programme

The board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved $170.9-million in financing for the African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) Leveraging Energy Access Finance Framework (LEAF) programme.

The programme aims to unlock commercial and local-currency financing for decentralised renewable energy (DRE) projects in Ghana, Guinea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Tunisia.

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EV adoption too expensive for South Africans, study indicates

The upfront costs associated with electric vehicles (EVs) is the biggest barrier to the transport mode’s adoption and uptake in South Africa, says Stellenbosch University associate Professor Stephan Krygsman. Speaking on behalf of Benson Manu, who authored the study on EVs, Krygsman says EV adoption is largely driven by global carbon emissions standards – of which the European Union and China are taking the lead.
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Kenya’s Kipeto wind plant reaches commercial operation

Kenya-based Kipeto Energy has completed construction of the 100 MW Kipeto wind farm, in the Kajiado county, in Kenya.

The project’s 60 wind turbines are producing power for the national grid.

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Kenya’s KenGen says CERs for sale more than double

Kenya’s largest utility said on Tuesday its certified emission reduction credits (CERs) available for sale had more than doubled to over 550 000. A CER is equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide and they are part of emission reduction efforts under the Kyoto Protocol.
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Egypt notified that Ethiopia has resumed filling of giant dam

Egypt’s irrigation minister said on Monday he had received official notice from Ethiopia that it had begun filling the reservoir behind its giant hydropower dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), for a second year. Egypt has informed Ethiopia of its categorical rejection of the measure, which it regards as a threat to regional stability, Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Aty said in a statement.
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Opinion: Cheap renewables offer the key to universal electricity access in Africa

In this opinion article, co-authored by European Commission executive vice president Frans Timmermans and International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol, it is argued that to make energy poverty history in Africa the whole world will need to work in concert to end funding for coal power, boost cooperation to expand clean electricity across the continent and to scale-up financial support from advanced economies.
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Botswana issues licence for first large scale solar power plant

The Botswana energy regulator has granted a generation licence for a 100 MW solar project to local firm Shumba Energy, a company executive said on Monday, making it the first independent power producer to set up a large scale solar plant in the country. Botswana does not currently have large scale solar power generation and its 600 MW national energy demand is met by state owned coal-fired plants and imports, primarily from South Africa and Mozambique.
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New IEA report paints complex picture for future of gas demand

A new International Energy Agency (IEA) report on the outlook for gas presents a complex picture of the fuel’s role in the unfolding energy transition, as well as the outlook for demand. The report forecasts that there will be an immediate 3.5% recovery in demand from the Covid-afflicted 2020 year, when demand fell by 1.9%.
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Sasol, IDC team up to stimulate South Africa’s green-hydrogen industry

JSE-listed Sasol and the State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) have signed a memorandum of cooperation to jointly advance South Africa’s green-hydrogen economy. In a joint statement, the two companies said the memorandum recognised that South Africa was in a unique position to leverage its world-class renewable resources and Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch technology and skills to position the country as a global hydrogen leader.
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