SAB signs PPA with waste-to-energy company

The South African Breweries (SAB) has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with black-woman-owned industrial-scale biogas waste-to-energy company Bio2Watt. Bio2Watt will supply SAB with renewable energy from its Cape Dairy biogas plant once it reaches commercial operation.
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Eskom readies for R5bn first phase of battery storage roll-out

State-owned electricity producer Eskom says it is in the final stages of pre-contract discussions for the first phase of its much-anticipated battery energy storage system (BESS) deployment, which will involve investments valued at about R5-billion. During Phase 1, the utility aims to introduce 199 MW/832 MWh of BESS capacity across eight sites, including:
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Scatec, partners to develop large-scale green ammonia facility in Egypt

Renewable energy producer Scatec has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), to jointly develop a green ammonia facility in Egypt with an initial production capacity of one-million tonnes a year and potential to possibly increase to three-million tonnes a year. The green hydrogen and ammonia facility will be located in the SCZone in the Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone and will be powered by renewable energy plants to be built in close proximity on an area of land allocated by the NREA.
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SAWEA urges Eskom to accelerate land designation process in Mpumalanga

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has reiterated its call for increased power generation from renewable sources as the country buckles under another round of load-shedding.

The association highlights the ample opportunity available for independent power producers (IPPs) to build private generation plants, particularly in Mpumalanga.

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Eskom, Hawks swoop on cable theft syndicate in Mpumalanga

Power utility Eskom reports that its investigators, along with members of the Vosman South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Unit on March 8 arrested at least 14 suspects involved in alleged cable theft. The suspects were arrested during the raid of premises in Vosman, Mpumalanga. Large volumes of cables, comprising aluminium and copper, were found stored on multiple premises, including that of a scrap metal dealer.
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Diesel supply and pricing again under the spotlight as Eskom intensifies cuts to preserve reserves

Eskom has again issued a warning over the supply and pricing of diesel, which it has been consuming at extreme levels in recent days to cover for its underperforming coal fleet, the energy availability factor (EAF) of which has now slumped to below 60%. The State-owned utility deployed its open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) plants well beyond the peak periods for which they are designed on Monday and Tuesday, partly to replenish the upper dams at its pumped-storage schemes.
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IAEA concerned about the situation at Chernobyl nuclear site in Ukraine

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that the remote safeguards monitoring systems at the ruined Chornobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) had ceased transmitting data. Chornobyl, better known by its Russian name Chernobyl, was the location of the world’s worst nuclear accident, in 1986. The Chornobyl site sits in an exclusion zone and contains both decommissioned reactors and radioactive waste facilities. Since February 24, it has been occupied by invading Russian forces. The working shift of some 210 personnel who were on duty at that time have not since been relieved or rotated and have effectively been sleeping at the NPP. Ukraine’s nuclear regulator has told the IAEA that the Chornobyl staff have access to food and water and to limited medication, but that communication was solely by email. All other communications with the NPP were down.    
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Stage 4 load-shedding kicks in on Wednesday morning

Eskom has announced that Stage 4 load-shedding will be implemented from 09:00 on Wednesday morning until 05:00 on Friday.  Thereafter load-shedding will be lowered to Stage 2 until 05:00 on Monday. 
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Women keen to participate in energy efficiency projects – DMRE

Studies indicate that women want to participate in the energy sector, and especially within the energy efficiency sector, both of which currently have poor representation of women, Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) gender mainstreaming and transformation national coordinator Winnie Mamatsharaga said on March 8. Speaking in a webinar, hosted by the DMRE, on business opportunities for women in the energy efficiency sector, she said women were unable to compete on an equal footing with men in the energy sector as a result of several factors.
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Portfolio Committee halts plan to hold inquiry into alleged RMIPPPP corruption

The Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy has rescinded a decision taken last year to conduct an inquiry into allegations of corruption and malfeasance during the process to appoint preferred bidders in the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP). This resolution was taken following legal opinion from the Parliament Legal Service Division, which referred to a High Court judgment that dismissed, with costs, an application to set aside the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) decision to appoint preferred bidders for the RMIPPPP.
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