Saldanha Bay ideal for green hydrogen production

The Saldanha Bay region has “excellent” solar and wind resources that have the potential for large renewable energy electricity at competitive costs, making it an ideal location to produce green hydrogen – hydrogen made using renewable energy as a source of electricity – Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) senior research engineer Thomas Roos highlighted during a recent event. In a keynote address at the second Energy Transition webinar, on April 12, hosted by the Saldanha Bay Innovation Campus (SB-IC), he said that, although electricity was a contested space in South Africa, the potential for green hydrogen production “far exceeds” local demand.
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GreenCape selects ten finalists for its GreenPitch challenge

Climate change adaptation and green economy nonprofit GreenCape has selected ten finalists for the 2022 GreenPitch Challenge. The ten green economy innovators will prepare to pitch their innovations to a panel of judges on May 5, at an event hosted by GreenCape in partnership with the City of Cape Town’s Invest Cape Town and The Business Hub.
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Nedbank extends R200m green loan for Vukile solar projects

JSE-listed real estate investment trust Vukile Property Fund has concluded a five-year, R200-million use-of-proceeds green loan with financial services firm Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking, which will fund 19 solar energy projects and energy-efficiency initiatives across South Africa. The loan will fund seven recently installed solar energy projects of R60-million.
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Eskom warns of 101 days of load-shedding this winter in ‘extreme’ case

There can be as many as 101 days of load-shedding this winter, in the “extreme case”, according to an Eskom official. Eskom on Tuesday provided an update on the state of the power system, this after load-shedding escalated to Stage 4 in the morning due to failing generating units.
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De Ruyter in ‘call to arms’ appeal for cutting of red tape binds on new and existing capacity

Eskom CEO André de Ruyter has appealed for an immediate easing of regulatory impediments to the introduction of both immediately available capacity of about 500 MW and the accelerated procurement, or introduction, of the generation capacity required to ease the now constant risk of load-shedding. De Ruyter made this “call to arms” after the utility declared Stage 4 load-shedding at short notice on Tuesday morning and indicated that the rotational cuts would continue until at least Thursday night, owing to high levels of unplanned breakdowns of more than 15 600 MW.
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RMB CEO calls for localisation rules to be waived to catalyse transition to renewables

Financial services firm RMB CEO James Formby says South Africa urgently needs a “megawatts first” policy and that localisation rules, which make renewable energy more expensive, should be waived. Local material content rules increase the cost of wind and solar energy production. Import tariffs, such as those on imported steel, are also making renewable energy more expensive.
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Load-shedding jumps to Stage 4

Eskom has announced that load-shedding has immediately jumped to Stage 4 on Tuesday morning after more generation units failed.  The power utility said the jump from Stage 2 happened at 7:20 after Majuba Unit 5 and Tutuka Unit 4 tripped. 
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Italian Club chooses Bedfordview specialist to keep lights on

The Italian Club Johannesburg, in Bedfordview, has invested about R1-million in the installation of a fully automated 275 kVA generator from privately-owned generator specialist Elegen to power its facilities during electricity outages and load-shedding.   The club researched several companies before choosing Elegen, which is ideally located in Bedfordview, to supply a backup power solution, as it offered to build a generator to specifically meet the club’s needs. 
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QES mobile generators ordered locally

Air, power and flow solutions provider Atlas Copco Power Technique has received orders this year for its QES mobile, plug-and-play generators from local companies, mostly for standby power purposes or for use at manufacturing plants, says Power Technique business development manager Philip du Plessis. Most of the orders received by Power Technique this year for the QES range are for standby power purposes or for use at manufacturing plants.
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Many manufacturers still without backup power

Many local manufacturers still do not have backup power installed, while others lack adequate power solutions to effectively limit the production losses incurred during power outages or load-shedding, says power rental expert Rand-Air, part of the Atlas Copco group. “A lot of companies do not have the right equipment on site to keep their lights on, with some only powering their offices or the critical part of their manufacturing facility to keep certain materials agitated, for example,” explains Rand-Air inland area manager Henry Fourie.
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