Cape Town’s first solar plant to be built in Atlantis next year 

 The City of Cape Town plans to build its first grid-connected solar plant next year as one of its interventions to end load-shedding over time.  The city has issued the tender for the engineering, procurement and construction of a 7 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) facility in Atlantis. 
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Eskom, partners to establish renewables training facility at Komati

State-owned Eskom, the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre (Saretec) – based at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) – and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) have signed a partnership agreement for the development of a new training facility to be established at the soon-to-be-decommissioned Komati power station, in Mpumalanga. The training facility is part of Eskom’s contribution to a just transition for the local community as the Komati power station is decommissioned.
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Load-shedding, tariff hearings and Bid Window 5 progress

Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer talks about society’s growing anger over load-shedding, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s public hearings into Eskom’s request for a 32% tariff hike and the signing of project agreements for three wind projects under Bid Window 5.
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AfDB offers South Africa a financing deal to raise $41bn

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has suggested a plan to South Africa that will help the nation use the $8.5 billion in climate financing pledged by some of the world’s richest nations to raise even more funds. The AfDB has recommended that South Africa park the funds in a special purpose vehicle, bank President Akinwumi Adesina. The SPV, which can seek a credit rating, can sell zero-coupon bonds to raise as much as $41 billion, Adesina said in an interview Thursday in Bloomberg’s New York office.
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October deadline set for residual renewables bids as South Africa signs wind farm agreements …

A deadline of the end of October has been set for the signing of power purchase and implementation agreements by the remaining 22 Bid Window Five (BW5) renewables projects, following the conclusion of the first such agreements with three wind projects, with a combined capacity of 420 MW and a combined investment value of R11-billion. IPP Office head Bernard Magoro reported on Thursday that all BW5 preferred bidders had now secured grid-connection Budget Quotes from Eskom, the absence of which had delayed the conclusion of the round from an initial deadline of April, and that “the next step is to now sign the agreements”.
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Renewable energy adds 700 000 jobs to reach 12.7m globally

Worldwide employment in renewable energy reached 12.7-million in the past year, which was an increase of 700 000 new jobs in one year despite the lingering effects of Covid-19 and the growing energy crisis, says global body the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), which has published a report in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The ‘Renewable Energy and Jobs: Annual Review 2022’ report identifies domestic market size as a major factor influencing employment generation in renewables, along with labour and other costs.
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Starsight Energy, SolarAfrica merge to expand operations into South Africa

East and West African renewable energy services provider Starsight Energy and South African solar energy provider SolarAfrica Energy are merging to expand operations with ambition of becoming one of the largest commercial and industrial (C&I) solar developers in Africa. The proposed merger combines the strengths of the duo to unlock a pan-African renewable energy services provider positioned to serve a wider range of clients with a comprehensive mix of technology-enabled renewable energy solutions that provides power security, cost savings and carbon reduction.
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Kibo acquires waste-to-energy project in the UK

Renewable energy development company Kibo Energy has signed a definitive share purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire a 100% interest in a waste reception, anaerobic digestor (AD) and combined heat and power (CHP) power plant named Southport at Merseyside, in the UK. The company said on September 21 that the acquisition of the 12 MW waste-to-energy project was in line with its refocused strategy to acquire and develop an energy portfolio centred on sustainable, renewable and clean energy solutions and opportunities.
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Gordhan says record power cuts set to ease

Load-shedding should ease over the coming days and the nation’s electricity supply will continue to improve over the medium term as new investments bolster generation, according to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. “We will have load-shedding for a while in South Africa,” Gordhan said on Thursday in an interview on Bloomberg TV. But “not of the order that we’ve seen in the recent past,” he said.
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GWEC urges action to address energy security and climate crisis ahead of COP27

Industry organisation the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) says governments need to take dramatic action to scale up wind and renewable energy in this decade, and to address energy security and climate crises ahead of the international climate meeting the Conference of the Parties 27 (COP27). If the world is to get on track for 1.5 °C-compliant pathway (above preindustrial levels) to net zero, yearly global wind energy installations must quadruple to about 390 GW/y by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency and, by 2050, wind energy must generate more than one-third of global electricity, up from 6% today.
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