Eskom’s Grid Access Unit reports that it has received payments for 179 cost estimate letters, or CELs, and has issued 53 such letters, following the April 6 issuance of a request for proposals (RFP) for Bid Window Six (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). Speaking during a virtual bidders conference hosted by the IPP Office, the unit’s head, Azwimbavhi Mamanyuha, reported that a total of 219 grid-access applications had been received by Eskom in relation to BW6, the bid submission date for which is August 11.
The only viable and sustainable solution to South Africa’s escalating electricity crisis is for small independent power producers (IPPs) to immediately flood the market on a large scale, trade union Solidarity’s Research Institute (SRI) has said. Through a concerted effort by the private sector – including businesses and private citizens alike – to invest in IPP capability, the country’s energy crisis could be resolved within months, the trade union said during a media briefing on July 8.
Renewable energy development company Kibo Energy has committed to buy, from energy storage system company CellCube, two vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) for proof-of-concept energy storage projects. Kibo in May entered into an agreement to acquire a 51% interest in National Broadband Solutions (NBS) from Hasta Trust and to jointly assess and develop a portfolio of long-duration energy storage (LDES) projects in Southern Africa.
As South Africans battle some of the worst load-shedding ever, there is growing pressure on Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe to allow for more renewables and battery storage to address the deepening energy crisis. Fourteen civil society organisations, in an open letter, requested that Mantashe immediately issue determinations for the procurement of 13 600 MW of renewable energy and 1 575 MW of storage capacity.
Eskom, which readily concedes it does not have the skills to maintain its plants, is on a drive to bring back former employees to mentor and train staff. It is also, at last, bringing in the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to conduct maintenance on parts of its plants where its own engineers and artisans are having difficulty. This has previously been difficult due to red tape around public procurement.
Cable theft has critically constrained the delivery of coal by rail to the Majuba power station, as the portion of the rail network owned by State-owned power utility Eskom that feeds directly into Majuba has been severely damaged by the theft of overhead cables and critical overhead track equipment, reports State-owned Transnet Freight Rail (TFR). Eskom has been unable to restore the overhead track equipment, TFR says.
The European Parliament, in a vote on Wednesday, endorsed nuclear energy, and certain gas energy projects, as green energy. The vote was actually on a motion to exclude nuclear and certain gas projects from the European Commission’s (EC’s) ‘Taxonomy Complementary Climate Delegated Act’. The motion was rejected by 328 votes to 278, with 33 abstentions, reported the European Parliament press office. The inclusion of nuclear and certain gas projects in the EC green energy taxonomy could still be vetoed by the European Council, which is composed of the Heads of State and/or Government of all the member states of the European Union (EU). According to the Reuters news agency, it would require 20 of the 27 members states to vote against the Complementary Delegated Act to veto it. The news agency described such an eventuality as “very unlikely”.
Across the globe, climate change and the move away from fossil fuels to clean energy has created considerable opportunities for renewable energy, driving development of the “green economy”. At the end June, the Tshwane Economic Development Agency (TEDA) held a Renewable Energy Roundtable, which it says has sparked critical thinking in the sector.
The Republic of (South) Korea’s (ROK’s) new administration (inaugurated in May) has announced a new energy policy which re-emphasises the importance of nuclear energy for the country, World Nuclear News has reported. New President Yoon Suk-yeol had promised to reverse the nuclear phase-out policy of his predecessor, President Moon Jae-in, which had been adopted on the latter’s inauguration in 2017, as a reaction to the Fukushima Daiichi crisis in Japan in 2011. The new policy aimed to ensure that nuclear power provided at least 30% of the country’s energy mix. The target date for achieving this was 2030. This would be achieved by completing nuclear power plants (NPPs) now under construction, and safely extending the lives of existing NPPs.
The National Planning Commission (NPC) has called for the declaration of an ‘energy emergency’ to override any red tape currently preventing the construction of new electricity capacity, as well as to make it possible to build 10 000 MW of new generation and 5 000 MW of new storage capacity over the coming two years. “The most immediate priority is to ensure that new generation capacity is rapidly and urgently brought onto the grid, together with significant new storage capacity.
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