Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy reports that South Africa will push for the establishment of a people-centred ‘Just Energy transition Financing Framework’ at the upcoming COP27 climate conference, to be held in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, in early November. Such a framework, she told a pre-COP27 stakeholder consultation meeting in Johannesburg, could support coal phase-down programmes in developing countries, as well as ambitious renewable-energy investments, while supporting workers and communities that could be made vulnerable as a result of the transition away from fossil fuels.
As a result of a Promotion of Access to Information Act application by the Democratic Alliance (the official opposition in the South African Parliament but the ruling party in the Western Cape province), the full International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safety Aspects of Long Term Operation (SALTO) report on South Africa’s Koeberg nuclear power plant (NPP) has been made public. The IAEA SALTO mission visited Koeberg, which is located in the Western Cape, near Cape Town, from March 22 to March 31 this year. The visit and inspection were at the invitation of Eskom. On the conclusion of that mission, the IAEA had issued a press release, dated March 31, and reported on by Engineering News on April 1. In that press release, the IAEA reported, in high level and general terms, the strengths and weaknesses the SALTO team had found at Koeberg. With the release of the report, it is now possible to see what the specific issues were.
Just energy transition organisation the RES4Africa Foundation aims to increase its expertise and operative efforts dedicated to Africa’s green hydrogen sector and has, therefore, organised an operative working group, which gathers periodically and is attended by experts from RES4Africa’s membership network. The working group responds to the necessity of fostering knowledge, technical and human capacities, while stimulating the creation of multi-stakeholder partnerships to analyse the current status quo of Africa’s green hydrogen sector and formulate specific advocacy proposals, the organisation says.
he chair of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), Professor Mark Swilling, says that the task set for the new board of Eskom to achieve an energy availability factor (EAF) of 75% is completely impossible. Speaking at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation (KMF) forum on inclusive growth in the Drakensberg on Saturday, Swilling, who is also a member of the National Planning Commission (NPC), made the point that half of SA’s 90 electricity generation units were out of service due to breakdown in September, triggering stage 6 loadshedding.
The High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Pretoria Judge EM Kubushi has handed down an order stating that the Guideline and Benchmarking Methodology adopted by regulatory authority the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) in approving municipal electricity increases, is unlawful. The October 20 judgement states that the Guideline and Benchmarking method, used by Nersa when approving municipal electricity tariffs, as set out in the record of decision issued by Nersa and entitled ‘Determination of the Municipal Tariff Guideline and Revision of Municipal Tariff benchmarks for the 2021/22 financial year’, and as extended to the 2022/23 municipal year, is hereby declared unlawful, invalid and of no force and effect.
Global demand for platinum group metals (PGMs) is forecast to taper off beyond 2030, despite a robust outlook for increasing automotive sales, according to platinum group metals producer Impala Platinum (Implats) corporate affairs executive Emma Townshend, who addressed a PGMs students colloquium hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, in Pretoria, on October 20. “Legislation is shifting more from focusing on engine-out emissions to decarbonisation, resulting in very strict government policies that are forcing the adoption of electric fleets – and battery electric vehicles don’t need PGMs,” she explained.
Gautam Adani, Asia’s richest person, is in exploratory talks for a giant renewables project in Morocco, which would aim to supply electricity and emissions-free fuel to Europe. Adani’s coal-to-ports conglomerate is considering building wind and solar generation plants in the North African nation and facilities to produce green hydrogen for export, according to people familiar with the proposals and who requested anonymity to discuss private details.
Logistics company DHL is expanding and refining its development of an end-to-end electric vehicle (EV) battery logistics supply chain solution to bridge the gap between moving EV battery materials and finished products between manufacturing plants.
The increase in demand for battery logistics solutions is being driven by a variety of pressures; while in Africa the move to EVs in the two-wheel, three-wheel and public transport markets is part of a global shift to alternative fuels.
Global solar leasing platform Sun Exchange has announced that South African automotive platform Cars.co.za has bought into a project that provides off-grid solar power, as well as battery storage, to the Karoo Fresh commercial farm. By using the Sun Exchange platform to buy more than 16 000 solar cells, valued at more than R2.5-million, Cars.co.za says it hopes to leverage its balance sheet to drive sustainable energy, while also creating an alternative income stream for its business over the 20-year life span of the solar project.
Zero Carbon Charge (ZeroCC) is unashamedly pro-electric vehicle (EV), but believes that driving an EV only makes a difference when charged by renewable energy. ZeroCC director Andries Malherbe says that charging an EV using the conventional energy on tap in South Africa – in other words, Eskom power, generated from its fleet of coal-fired plants – will do very little to alleviate the poor air quality in the country.
INDUSTRY NEWS
WHERE TO FIND US
Address
9 Yellow Street
Botshabelo Industrial Area
Botshabelo, Free State
Call / Email Us
Tel: +27 (0) 51 534 1651
Email: info@transfix.co.za
