South Africa on its way to decentralised power system – SAWEA

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the licensing-exemption threshold for companies to produce their own electricity will be increased from 1 MW to 100 MW. SAWEA says it views this as another indication the country is well on its way to a decentralised, and decarbonised, renewable energy generation power system.
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Nersa welcomes 100 MW embedded-generation licensing-exemption decision

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has welcomed the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act will be amended. The President on June 10 announced that embedded-generation facilities of up to 100 MW would be exempt from licensing requirements.
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Eskom experiencing increase in electricity theft, illegal connections

State-owned power utility Eskom says it is experiencing an increase in electricity theft, especially in high-density areas, which leads to the failure of its equipment. Eskom warns against illegal connections, meter tampering and buying electricity from illegal syndicates, stating that this leads to distribution network overloading and damage to Eskom’s infrastructure.
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Consultancy alters green processes due to Covid 19

Owing to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in South Africa last year, sustainability consultancy Solid Green altered its processes to assist the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) in meeting its net zero carbon goal by 2030, developing an EcoDistrict methodology for the city.
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Hydrogen company enters collaboration with solar company

Global hydrogen company Nel Hydrogen Electrolyser, a division of Nel ASA, has entered a collaboration with global provider of comprehensive solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions First Solar to develop integrated PV hydrogen power plants.
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Pioneers for sustainable urban regeneration

An urgent shift from traditional market practice towards the ‘green industrial revolution’ is underway, hence specialised commercial property financial services company TUHF’s advocating for the following of green and sustainable building principles in the construction and building industries.
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Woods participation in the circular economy

The Wood Structural Engineering Department at the University of Pretoria (UP) says policy needs to be developed to ensure wood forms part of the circular economy. A circular economy is an economic developmental approach designed to benefit businesses, society and the environment. In contrast to the ‘take, make, waste’ linear model, a circular economy is regenerative and aims to gradually decouple growth from the consumption of finite resources.
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Track S Africa’s economic recovery on Operation Vulindlela dashboard

South Africans can now track government’s progress in economic and employment growth with up-to-date information on the new Operation Vulindlela dashboard, launched this week. Operation Vulindlela was launched last year as a joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury to unlock key economic reforms and to fast-track the trajectory of South Africa’s policy reforms.
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Ramaphosa moves to tackle growth-sapping electricity crisis by increasing licence-exemption cap …

In a surprise move, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that the licence-exemption cap on self- or distributed-generation plants would be increased from 1 MW to 100 MW to help address the country’s electricity crisis, which has been weighing down economic growth and confidence for more than a decade. The increase, which would be facilitated by an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act “within the next 60 days or sooner”, exceeds calls made by organised business and labour to increase the threshold to at least 50 MW, as well as allows the so-called embedded-generation plants to both wheel that electricity through the grid and sell it to nonrelated offtakers.
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Investors with $41tr ask G7 to stop subsidising fossil fuels

A coalition of investors overseeing a combined $41-trillion of assets have called on world leaders to set more ambitious greenhouse-gas emissions targets and end support for fossil fuels. DWS Group, Legal and General Investment Management and Pacific Investment Management Co were among 457 investors that wrote a joint letter to heads of State ahead of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders summit that will start on Friday in Cornwall, England.
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