Saice welcomes civil engineering prominence in capacity building, will help ensure sustainable …

Industry body the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (Saice) welcomes that civil engineering features prominently on the scarce skills list President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to during his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on February 10, when he articulated the need for capacity building, says Saice president Professor Marianne Vanderschuren. Employment remains a critical priority for South Africa and for the civil engineering sector. Saice reiterated its call on government to continue to engage the available resources, entities and professionals in mapping out the far-reaching plans that detailed in the SoNA.
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Energy Intensive User Group welcomes SoNA statements

Nonprofit organisation the Energy Intensive User Group (EIUG) has welcomed the statements made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on February 10, and says it concurs with the President about the need for “a competitive market for electricity generation and the establishment of an independent State-owned transmission company.” It says Ramaphosa correctly diagnosed the root causes of the South African electricity crisis, being “aging power stations, poor maintenance, policy missteps and the ruinous effects of State capture”, leading to the current electricity supply shortfall of 4 000 MW.
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Draft electricity pricing policy stresses principles of cost-reflectivity and standardisation

The draft Review of Electricity Pricing Policy (EPP), which has been published for public comment, seeks to provide guidelines to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for a standardised, non-discriminatory approach to electricity pricing in a context of an electricity supply industry “rapidly transitioning” away from its monopoly structure to one that is market based. The document, the release of which was approved by Cabinet last week, was Gazetted by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on February 10, with a 30-day comment period.
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Kibo to build plastics-to-syngas plant in Gauteng industrial park

Aim- and JSE-listed Kibo Energy has entered into a ten-year take-or-pay conditional power purchase agreement, to generate baseload electricity from a 2.7 MW plastic-to-syngas power plant.

The company will build, commission and operate the plant for an industrial business park developer client in Gauteng.

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Redstone CSP project completes first AfDB drawdown

The Redstone concentrated solar power (CSP) project has achieved its first debt drawdown on the largest renewable energy investment in South Africa to date, development finance institution the African Development Bank (AfDB) says. AfDB acted as the mandated lead arranger and coordinating bank, committing R2.31-billion to the transaction.
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Delays, inconsistency and lack of clarity blocking South African renewables rollout

Delays and halted bidding windows in relation to the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) were some of the greatest challenges highlighted by South African renewable energy industry stakeholders, said the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) on February 11. The delays and inconsistent procurement timeline has negatively impacted on the continuous development and investment into industry, SAWEA added.
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Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill points to far-reaching structural changes

The market structure section inserted into the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill provides for a shift to a competitive multimarket electricity supply industry, which represents a significant departure from South Africa’s long-standing vertically integrated model monopolised by Eskom. Published for comment this week by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, the new market structure is outlined in Section 32 of the Bill, which is proposed for insertion into the Electricity Regulation Act of 2006.
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Businesses find SoNA lacking; industry takes a more favourable view

Business organisation Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso says business was hoping for a greater sense of urgency and stronger commitment from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SoNA) to accelerating both the reform agenda and infrastructure rollout. “Overall, BLSA believes the President  could have done more to address blockages to the efficient implementation of already agreed policy and didn’t go far enough to build confidence that 2022 would be the year of delivery.
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Kangra cuts first coal at underground extension

Coal mining company Kangra has extended the life of its operations by opening up a new adit, which provides access to new underground coal reserves. Darren Parker tells us more.
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SKF allocates €300m to green investments

Bearing equipment and services multinational SKF has allocated €300-million to investments in accordance with SKF’s Green Finance Framework. This is an important part of SKF’s focus on reducing its own emissions, as well as increasing investments in research and development, production, testing and remanufacturing capacity for products used in industries such as renewable energy generation, electric vehicles and railway applications.
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