Industry organisation the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) has elected Dr Rethabile Melamu as its new CEO and Chanda Nxumalo as its new chairperson during the organisation’s tenth annual general meeting held on June 9. Melamu is a chemical and environmental engineer by training and has become renowned for her international expertise in the green economy and energy sectors.
Alternative investment fund manager Anuva Investments is seeking to collaborate with industry experts and reputable engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partners to fund solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in the agricultural, commercial and industrial, as well as residential space.

To supplement its existing agriculture-focussed solar PV project pipeline with projects in the Western Cape and North West provinces, Anuva will continue to source and secure new technical partners in other sectors.

A fire broke out at Unit 2 of the Duvha power station in Mpumalanga on Monday morning, Eskom has confirmed. In a statement, spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said the fire had been extinguished quickly and no injuries to staff had been reported. 
African Rainbow Energy and Power (AREP), backed by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, is looking to boost renewable power generation sevenfold to become one of the biggest clean electricity providers on the continent. The Johannesburg-based company ultimately has a target of adding as much as 5 000 MW of assets. It’s invested in more than 700 MW already and looking with partners at an additional 2 000 MW by the end of the second quarter next year.
Diversified mining and renewable energy company Exxaro Resources and its wholly-owned subsidiary Cennergi has confirmed the successful registration of the 80 MW Lephalale Solar Project (LSP) by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa and the regulator’s executive committee.

The project marks the first phase of decarbonisation at the Grootegeluk mine, in Limpopo.

A comprehensive strategy for drastically reducing, or even eliminating, the scourge of rotational power cuts in South Africa by early 2024 has been outlined in a new public-interest report published by Meridian Economics. The authors warn, however, that load-shedding is poised to rise to extreme levels unless unprecedented interventions, underpinned by “substantial political will”, are taken urgently to introduce about 10 GW of mostly wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) generators into the energy starved system by that date.