Biggest China bank walks away from $3bn Zimbabwe coal plan

China’s biggest bank has dumped plans to fund a $3-billion coal-fired power plant in Zimbabwe, in a blow to a two-decade effort to develop the project, according to a coalition of 32 environmental groups. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China told Go Clean ICBC, which includes environmental activist group 350.org, that it wouldn’t fund the 2 800 MW Sengwa coal project that RioEnergy, a unit of RioZim, is seeking to develop in Northern Zimbabwe.
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Zimbabwe faces lengthy power outages after surge hits plants

Zimbabwe faces prolonged power outages after a surge in electricity imports from neighboring South Africa overloaded its network and caused generating plants to fail, Energy Minister Soda Zhemu said. The surge caused a nationwide blackout in the early hours of Monday, as it affected output at the Kariba hydropower plant and the coal-fired Hwange facility, Zhemu said by phone from the capital, Harare.
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Progressive moves to ban organic waste from landfills seen as key driver of South African …

Legislation curtailing and, ultimately, banning the diversion of organic waste to municipal landfills is expected to support the development of South Africa’s biogas industry, which remains nascent with only 28 such projects having be built and commissioned to date. South Africa National Waste Management Strategy of 2020 sets a long-term goal of ‘zero waste’ to landfills and includes targets of lowering waste diversions to landfills by 45% within five years, 55% in 10 years and 70% in 15 years.
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South Africa’s reliance on Inga 3 hydropower project ‘a grave risk’, organisations warn

Civil society organisations International Rivers and WoMin African Alliance have published a report that they say provides, for the first time, an independent and authoritative account of the true cost of the Inga 3 hydropower project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for South Africa.   The report’s conclusions are “dire yet clear” in that offtaking hydropower from Inga 3 will be “too costly and an unmitigated disaster” for the country, the organisations state. South Africa intends to procure at least 2 500 MW of hydropower produced at Inga 3, but construction on that project has yet to start.
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SANEDI encourages consumers to save energy

Modified consumer behaviour and the implementation of energy-efficient solutions can reduce electricity demand, while also enabling South Africans to save money on their energy bill, says South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) energy efficiency and corporate communications GM Barry Bredenkamp. Considering the constrained energy supply, every individual must play his or her part in reducing electricity use and help reduce the pressure on the national electricity grid, he says.
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Opinion: Does the new 100MW cap solve all our renewable-energy problems?

In this opinion article, Mike Roussos suggests that a new renewable-energy utility be established within the public sector to ensure that the State plays a direct role in establishing and guiding a new and cleaner energy dispensation for South Africa.
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Efficiency policies to mitigate the electricity crisis in South Africa, says SANEDI

The South African government is raising efficiency levels for high-consumption electrical products,  like street lights, in an effort to reduce the energy burden on the national grid, especially as State-owned utility Eskom continues to face constraints in supplying electricity. With experts recommending the country should brace for a protracted period of intermittent power cuts, or load-shedding, for at least another five years, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (MRE) and the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) are developing minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) for streetlights.
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Ramaphosa says separated grid company will ‘promote purchase of lowest-cost electricity’

The creation of a separate State-owned transmission entity, as part of the restructuring of Eskom into three separate entities responsible for generation, transmission and distribution, has been held up by President Cyril Ramaphosa as key to promoting the purchase of the lowest-cost electricity for businesses and households. In his weekly newsletter, which is dedicated to the reforms under way across State-owned enterprise (SOEs), the President said that the transmission company, which is schedule for establishment by year-end as the Independent System and Market Operator (ITSMO), would be able to purchase power from a broader range of providers, both private and public.
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State gas companies move to exercise pre-emptive rights over Moz-SA pipeline

The State-owned gas companies of South Africa and Mozambique have announced that they have exercised their pre-emptive rights to acquire, for R4.15-billion, the 30% equity stake in the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline (Rompco) hitherto owned by Sasol. The announcement follows on from Sasol’s May 14 announcement of a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) – subject to the pre-emptive rights held by Central Energy Fund subsidiary iGAS and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos subsidiary Companhia Mocambiçana de Gasoduto (CMG) – with a Reatile-led consortium.
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CT Lab to install 1 300 Otello edge devices for real-time power grid visibility

Stellenbosch technology company CT Lab will deploy 1 300 Otello edge computing devices on State-owned power utility Eskom’s grid to change how power is seen and managed on the grid, enabling full visibility of the power grid in real-time. Visibility is becoming a deciding factor in the development of the grid, says CT Lab CEO and lead designer Willie van Wyk.
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