Archive for month: August, 2022

Two separate opinion polls undertaken in Germany have both shown that the greater number of those polled want the life of the country’s three remaining nuclear power reactors to be extended, “World Nuclear News” has pointed out. The three reactors are currently scheduled to be shut down at the end of this year, for political and not technical reasons. Following the tsunami-triggered nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan in March 2011, the German government of then Chancellor Angela Merkel passed legislation, later that same year, to phase out all nuclear power in the country by the end of this year (2022). At that time, Germany had 14 operating nuclear power reactors, providing some 25% of the country’s electricity.

State-owned electricity utility Eskom has confirmed that Unit 2 at the Koeberg nuclear power station was returned to service at 20:24 on Sunday, August 7. “The unit is currently loading and will require about ten days to reach full output,” spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha confirmed in an emailed response to an Engineering News enquiry.

The project by City of Johannesburg (CoJ) utility City Power to retrofit all of Johannesburg’s streetlights with light-emitting diode (LED) technology is gathering pace, providing energy saving and environment-friendly light, CoJ Environment and Infrastructure Services Department MMC Michael Sun says. “I’m delighted that this pilot project is beginning to improve the city of gold’s energy position and positively impact the lives of our residents,” he comments.

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele says the reforms under way in the electricity sector – including the removal of the 100 MW licensing threshold for distributed generation projects and the expedited procurement of new capacity from renewables, gas and battery storage – will “supercharge our efforts to modernise and transform the electricity sector”. “Most importantly, these changes will create the conditions for a boom in private fixed investment in the coming years, which will lift our economic growth overall,” Gungubele said during the release of Operation Vulindlela’s latest progress update.

Trade union Solidarity sent a list of skilled power experts to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom CEO André de Ruyter on August 4, following calls by Gordhan to identify energy experts to help the country address prevailing electricity generation deficiencies.

According to Solidarity, the 300 experts on its shortlist have about 5 500 years of combined experience in the industry, as well as more than 400 accredited combined qualifications of which 14 are doctorate degrees in engineering and related fields.