South African dough manufacturer Goosebumps, in a drive to improve its sustainability, has installed a 250 kW, 618-panel solar photovoltaic power plant at its Cape Town factory.
The plant provides almost 25% of the site’s electricity requirement.
A mixture of Covid-19 restrictions and related subdued consumer behaviour and poor national grid electricity stability are impacting on small businesses chances of survival, states South African Solar Photovoltaic Industry (SAPVIA) COO Niveshen Govender.
He notes that South Africa’s economic future depends on the lights staying on, especially at a time when the national power utility Eskom has again been implementing load-shedding.
Creamer Media’s Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about the proclamation of three more Renewable Energy Development Zones and why these are important for the country’s just transition.
In this opinion piece, South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) COO Niveshen Govender points out that proposed changes to the electricity tariffs charged by Eskom shows that the utility is moving to a more proactive position that responds to the needs of consumers but also ensures increased uptake of alternative energy connections in a responsible way. Over the years, criticising Eskom has become quite the pastime for many South African commentators. While the State-owned utility is not immune from criticism, this time, Eskom is taking necessary, proactive, and productive steps to respond to the country’s changing energy environment.
In this opinion piece, Webber Wentzel’s Kirsty Kilner and Gillian Niven discuss how a new requirement may result in delays in renewable energy development in designated areas. Faced with ongoing blackouts, an economy downgraded to junk status and the highest level of unemployment since 2008, the South African government is under more pressure than ever before to promote energy development and attract investment.
Real estate investment trust (Reit) Fortress is effectively executing its development strategy and has managed to secure tenants for about 340 000 square metres of gross lettable area (GLA) out of its one-million square metre GLA logistics development pipeline in South Africa. Nearly 62 500 square metres of GLA was completed and let in the six-month interim reporting period to the end of December 2020, while the remainder of about 278 000 square metres is work-in-progress.
A new Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) report offers a sobering picture of declining electricity system production and demand between 2010 and 2020 – a trend that was amplified further during Covid-hit 2020, when demand slumped by a sharp 5.1%, or 11.8 TWh, to a decade low level of 227 TWh. Titled ‘Statistics of utility-scale power generation in South Africa in 2020’, the report has been compiled by the CSIR Energy Centre’s Joanne Calitz and Dr Jarrad Wright.
Domestic natural gas and helium producer Renergen has made another significant gas strike at its Virginia gas project, this time in well MDR1, 300 m north of the currently producing MDR5 well. The Virginia project is located in South Africa’s Free State province.
In the second part of its special coverage on the impact of hydrogen on the mining and metals sector, Fitch Solutions Country Risk & Industry Research (Fitch Solutions) reports that it believes green hydrogen will be adopted in the metals sector, in particular in the steel sector, in the longer term.
Green hydrogen will be increasingly used to decarbonise steel production, which is now a priority for many steelmakers in developed markets, as the steel industry accounts for about 9% of global carbon dioxide emissions, largely from blast furnace-based steelmaking, Fitch Solutions notes.
A study of South Africa’s offshore wind energy resources by researchers from the Stellenbosch University Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering indicates that wind turbines installed at different depths off the KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape coasts could potentially supply about 15% and 800%, respectively, of South Africa’s yearly electricity demand. The study by Stellenbosch University Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering researchers Gordon Rae and Dr Gareth Erfort was published in the Journal of Energy in Southern Africa. It is a comprehensive first assessment of South Africa’s offshore wind energy resources and was aimed at identifying the most suitable regions for the development of wind farms.
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