State-owned power utility Eskom said that Stage 2 load-shedding will resume at 17:00 on April 12 and will again be suspended at 05:00 on April 13 owing to the continued shortage of generation capacity. Load-shedding had been suspended at 05:00 on April 12, after being implemented from 18:00 the night before, but the constrained supply situation will persist throughout the week, with the possibility that more load-shedding is likely to be implemented should the generation capacity deteriorate further, the utility says.
International trade association the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and nonprofit industry body the Global Wind Organisation (GWO) have signed a new two-year agreement to map out workforce training needs. This is being done in an effort to support the development of renewable energy by helping meet the demand for skilled workers who are needed to fill an increasing number of jobs that will be are being created during the global energy transition.
London-based sustainable power start-up Decarb.Earth aims to enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reduce their emissions by aggregating SME decarbonisation projects on a platform to make investments by financiers more attractive. Large corporates may be able to tap funding from banks and other lenders to transform their energy sources, installing large-scale projects that have the potential to feed excess energy back into the grid for profit.
Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy has moved to appeal parts of a landmark High Court judgment recognising air pollution as a violation of the Constitutional rights of citizens living in the Highveld Priority Area – a 31 000 km2 region that includes parts of Mpumalanga and Gauteng. The judgment was handed down by Judge Colleen Collis on March 18, after environmental justice group groundWork and Mpumalanga community organisation Vukani approached the court for an order stipulating that regulations be published to govern the air-quality improvements required to meet the goals of a plan published in 2012, yet never implemented.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) on April 9 said that, while it had published a consultation paper on municipal guideline increase and tariff benchmarks for public comment last week, it has decided to hold a public hearing at a later date to give stakeholders a further opportunity to engage on the issues raised in the consultation paper. The energy regulator initially opted not to hold public hearings on the key issues reflected in the consultation paper on the municipal guideline increase and tariff benchmarks, and followed a notice and comment process owing to the fact that, in the past, few to no presenters attended the public hearings to make representations to Nersa, it said.
Industry association the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) has welcomed the commitment shown by government with the launch of Bid Window (BW) 6 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). Following closely on the announcement of preferred bidders for BW 5, this new BW is critical in the drive to get much-needed additional generation capacity, and ultimately kilowatt-hours, onto the grid, the association emphasises.
French fuel and energy multinational ST Energies has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Shell filling station in Worcerster, in the Western Cape, to implement a sustainable solar solution that will allow the station to achieve carbon-neutral status. The initiative is designed to deliver reliable power to filling stations using a combination of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, batteries and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) backup to keep them off the grid and operational.
South Africa’s oil refining capacity has always been rather small when considered on a global scale, but there was some sense of national pride and of security in knowing that the country could deliver – even if most of the crude input had to be imported. While local refineries were never able to fulfil South Africa’s demand for fuel in recent times – at 25-billion litres a year – local refining capacity helped to supplement imported supplies.
The UK officially confirmed on Thursday that, to ensure the country’s energy security and independence, while also moving more rapidly to achieving net-zero carbon emissions energy, it was going to particularly prioritise the development of new nuclear and offshore wind generation capacity. Hydrogen and solar power sources were not being forgotten, and, in the short- and medium-term, domestic oil and gas production would not be neglected. The government would immediately set up a new agency, Great British Nuclear, backed by “substantial funding”, to facilitate the launch of new nuclear projects. A £120-million Future Nuclear Enabling Fund would be launched this month. The aim was to have 24 GW of nuclear capacity by 2050, or some 25% of the country’s predicted electricity demand for that year. Currently, nuclear provided about 16% of the UK’s electricity.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged the risks associated with South Africa’s transition from coal to renewables but insists the “risks of not undertaking an ambitious and just transition are far greater.” Speaking during the virtual launch of the Oxford ‘Handbook on the South African Economy’, the President said the commitments made by South Africa to avert a climate crisis carry “significant risks”.
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