Food and beverage company Nestlé’s East & Southern Africa Region (ESAR) has installed a 966 kW ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant at its Babelegi manufacturing plant, in Hammanskraal, Gauteng. The 1 806 PV panels are expected to deliver about 2.1-million kilowatt-hours of energy a year, which equates to 15.6% of the total electrical energy requirement of the factory, which manufacturers Cremora coffee creamer and Maggi two-minute noodles, for the full year.
JSE-listed diversified chemicals producer Omnia grew its interim earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, excluding its Zimbabwean operations and impairments, by 30% year-on-year to R1.4-billion for the six months ended September 30.

This resulted in the group’s adjusted headline earnings a share from continuing operations being 32% higher year-on-year, at R4.01.

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy reports that public consultations on the country’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP), which was unveiled only days before the start of COP27, should be concluded by mid-February. In a briefing following the conclusion of the climate negotiations that took place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Creecy said that the Presidential Climate Commission would help facilitate the consultations, which she said would “fundamentally assist us in shaping the implementation plan”.
Lekela Power, the company with the most renewable energy assets in Africa, plans to soon complete financial arrangements for the biggest battery storage facility in the west of the continent and wants to expand into providing electricity for green hydrogen projects. The Amsterdam-based company intends building a 160 MWh battery plant next to its 159 MW Parc Eolien Taiba N’Diaye wind-powered power facility in Senegal, said Chris Antonopoulos, Lekela’s chief executive officer, stressing that they are separate projects.