UAE clean energy firm commits to renewables in Zambia, Angola, Uganda

United Arab Emirates (UAE) clean energy company Masdar has signed agreements with the energy Ministries of Angola, Uganda and Zambia to develop renewable energy projects totalling 5 GW.

The agreements were signed under the umbrella of the Etihad 7 initiative, which was launched by the UAE last year. The initiative is aimed at building 20 GW of renewable energy capacity on the continent and with it supply 100-million people across the continent with clean electricity.

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Data centres can use renewable energy to reduce their carbon-intensity

Data centre operators that buy large amounts of electricity can make huge strides in carbon reduction by embracing renewable energy across their operations and, as they invest in renewable energy procurement for their facilities, they can pass on these benefits to their customers and thus start the development of a clean energy ecosystem, says information management and storage services company Iron Mountain. Encouragingly, customers of corporate colocation data centres are increasingly seeking more sustainable energy supplies, which thanks to recent progress they will be able to access more and more, the company adds.
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Another weekend of loadshedding – but Stage 2 expected on Sunday

Loadshedding will be maintained at Stage 4 for Friday and Saturday evenings from 16:00 – 05:00. It will be lowered to Stage 3 from 05:00 – 16:00 on Saturday and further reduced to Stage 2 on Sunday morning.
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Glimpse into NECOM’s proposed ‘roadmap to end loadshedding’

The National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM), which is overseeing the implementation of the National Energy Plan announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July, presented a ‘Roadmap to end Loadshedding’ to various partners and stakeholders this week. The presentation has not been formally released and committee is yet to make a public briefing. It is, thus, possible that the roadmap presented will be adjusted, particularly given intensive recent discussions on the crisis and reports that Ramaphosa had “locked NECOM in a room” this week with an instruction to find solutions.
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City Power runs out of stock to replace vandalised mini substations

City Power is out of stock needed to replenish 14 mini substations that were vandalised in Johannesburg.  The utility has already replaced more than 390 vandalised mini substations in the last year. Roodepoort was the hardest hit with eight incidents, followed by Reuven with four.
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SMEs must be considered in loadshedding solutions independent of their affiliation

The small and medium-sized business (SME) ecosystem must be included in designing solutions to support them against the effects of loadshedding, and the help must be universal and available to SMEs that are not clients of government agencies like the Small Enterprise Development Agency and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency and the other development finance institutions, says SME organisation Small Business Institute CEO John Dludlu. “The SBI is calling on government to provide speedy, effective and tailored support to struggling SMEs, which are being decimated by the new and unending round of loadshedding.
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Rand set for weekly loss on power crisis

The South African rand was on the backfoot on Friday and set for a weekly loss against the dollar, as crippling power cuts continued to heighten economic uncertainty. At 0640 GMT, the rand traded at 17.2700 against the dollar, 0.1% weaker than its previous close and down more than 2% so far this week.
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Joburg City Power running out of minisubstations amid theft, vandalism

Johannesburg power utility City Power is unable to keep up with the high demand for minisubstations owing to the higher stages of loadshedding, and is losing an average of two minisubstations a day owing to theft and vandalism across its service delivery centres, with the hardest hit being Roodepoort. “The impact of loadshedding on our infrastructure is high, with minisubstations and transformers blowing up or being stolen. Since the recent higher stages of loadshedding, City Power has been losing minisubstations faster than we can replenish them,” it says.
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Circular economy enables value-added by-products

Nature-based solutions assist in creating a more circular economy and by-products from the treatment can create further value for the water treatment industry, says Rhodes University’s Institute for Environmental Biotechnology (EBRU) director Professor Keith Cowan. By-products can appeal to various markets and increase the overall market value of nature-based water treatment processes.
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Challenging transition lies ahead

South Africa’s just energy transition (JET) to a low-carbon economy will not transpire overnight and will remain a challenge throughout the 2023 financial year, professional services firm EY strategy consulting arm EY-Parthenon Africa leader Paul O’Flaherty tells Engineering News. “As with many parts of the globe, South Africa is living in the context of a trilemma. We need to balance money (availability of funding, high interest rates and inflation), energy (availability, affordability and achieving net zero) and supply (cost, sustainability and resilience).”
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