The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has issued an updated invitation, with an earlier September 16 deadline, for written comments regarding its concurrence with new Ministerial determinations allowing for the procurement of 18 791 MW of new electricity capacity. Nersa’s original invitation set a closing date of September 23 for the receipt of public comments, which would have been a day after the bid submission deadline for the sixth bid window (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
US President Joe Biden has approved the proposed agreement with South Africa to extend the two countries’ agreement on cooperation regarding the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. This approval took the form of a Presidential ‘determination’, released by the White House on Thursday. The original agreement was signed in August 1995. It entered into effect in early December 1997, and was due to expire in early December this year.
Load-shedding has plagued South Africans for years after first being introduced by embattled power utility Eskom in 2007 due to insufficient electricity supply. The country has since endured bouts of ongoing power outages, or load-shedding, with 2022 set to become the worst year of load-shedding recorded.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has invited public comment on it providing concurrence with new Ministerial determinations allowing for the procurement of 18 791 MW of new electricity capacity catered for under the 2019 edition of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2019), which covers the period to 2030. However, the deadline set for the submission of comments is a day after the current bid submission deadline for the sixth bid window (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, which requires a new determination for solar photovoltaic (PV) to enlarge the round to 5 200 MW.
Power technology provider Cummins invests in many corporate responsibility initiatives (CRI) to assist in increasing access to technical careers for young girls from school level onwards. These initiatives focus on equitable access to education, economic empowerment, legal rights and safety.
The continued flight of highly skilled and experienced technical staff from State-owned power utility Eskom to the local private sector and overseas power utilities is concerning, but also flattering, says Stellenbosch University engineering dean Professor Wikus van Niekerk. “These engineers, which have been trained by quality universities, such as the universities of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Pretoria and the Witwatersrand, have obtained practical experience on various systems after working at Eskom for several years and are now sought after globally,” he adds.
State-owned power utility Eskom is on track to ensure that the country’s electricity sector achieves net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with an increase in sustainable jobs, should its Strategy 2035 continue to be effectively implemented, says Eskom Just Energy Transition (JET) GM Mandy Rambharos. “Although it is a joint responsibility of all sectors to contributing to decarbonising South Africa, decarbonising the electricity sector, which contributes 41% of the country’s carbon emissions, will have a significant positive impact overall.”
South Africa needs to promptly implement small interventions to ease the pressure on the national electricity grid, requiring an investment of between R50-billion and R100-billion, while longer-term initiatives to stabilise the power system are rolled out, says Stellenbosch University Faculty of Engineering Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies director Professor Sampson Mampwheli. “Eskom has in the past implemented a successful energy efficiency and demand-side management programme between 2008 and 2011. By reintroducing the energy efficiency and demand-side management programmes following government’s declaration of a national power emergency, the country can reduce pressure on the grid within six to eight months as it waits for new generation capacity to come online.”
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