AfriForum kicks off Project AfriEnergy with solar PV guide

Civil rights organisation AfriForum has launched the first phase of the organisation’s three-phase plan – Project AfriEnergy – to help solve the prevailing electricity crisis in South Africa.
 
The first phase focuses on short-term solutions, to which AfriForum released a guide to help households investigate and ultimately install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and lessen their reliance on electricity provided by Eskom.
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US small modular nuclear reactor has achieved design certification from regulator

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued its so-called ‘Final Rule’ for the NuScale Power (NuScale) small modular nuclear reactor (SMR), completing the certification process for design. This made the NuScale SMR the first reactor in its category to be certified by the NRC. Although termed a ‘rule’, the NRC determination was actually a document some 55 A4 pages in length. This meant that, when the company applied for a licence to build and operate an NPP employing its SMR, the design of the SMR itself would not be an issue. NuScale would only need to meet the licensing requirements for the specific site chosen for the NPP.
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City Power spends up to R100m a year on substation security

City Power in Johannesburg spends roughly R100-million a year to secure its substations and mini substations from vandalism and theft, according to the spokesperson, Keneilwe Sebola. And the amount could triple if the security issues persist. In fact, the city could spend as much as R1-million a day on the replacement of damaged mini substations, she added.
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Eskom hits back at Ramaphosa on tariffs: Costs don’t just disappear

Those “aggrieved” by the upcoming 18.65% electricity tariff hike will have to lodge a court application to challenge the energy regulator’s decision, power utility Eskom has said. This comes days after President Cyril Ramaphosa told delegates at the African National Congress Free State provincial conference that he asked the power utility to halt the tariff hike amid ongoing loadshedding. The tariff is set to kick in April. skom indicated that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa is the only authority in the country that can set the price that consumers can be charged for electricity. Nersa also follows an “exhaustive” public participation process to get input from different stakeholders and considers the costs that Eskom will incur before deciding on the final outcome. “If Eskom does not recover from the consumer, then the burden on the taxpayer increases. Thus efficient costs will need to be recovered – they do not just disappear,” the power utility said.
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As diesel funding model is mooted, Eskom confirms diesel spend of R18bn and climbing

Eskom CFO Calib Cassim told lawmakers on Tuesday that the State-owned utility had spent R18-billion on diesel for its current financial year-to-date, which began in April last year, and that it would probably need to spend another R4-billion until the end of March, raising the overall diesel spend for the year to R22-billion. The utility was continuing to operate its diesel-fuelled open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) despite having announced in November that it was no longer in a financial position to do so.
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City of Cape Town to pay businesses, residents cash for electricity

The National Treasury has granted the City of Cape Town an exemption from competitive bidding or tendering processes for the buying of electricity from companies or households. The exemption was needed because South Africa’s public finance legislation did not foresee energy procurement from independent power producers, only from State-owned power utility Eskom.
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Cape Town to pay cash for electricity – with aim to cut loadshedding by 4 stages

The City of Cape Town announced on Tuesday that it will pay cash and an incentive to businesses that feed their excess power into the grid, laying the basis for further future loadshedding reductions.  The same will be extended to households generating their own energy later this year.
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City Power spends up to R100m a year on substation security to combat theft, vandalism

City Power in Johannesburg spends roughly R100-million a year to secure its substations and mini substations from vandalism and theft, according to spokesperson Keneilwe Sebola. And the amount could triple if the security issues persist. In fact, the City could spend as much as R1-million a day on the replacement of damaged mini substations, she added.
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DA wants Ramaphosa to show Mantashe the door

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has said that if President Cyril Ramaphosa is serious about halting the electricity price increase, he must get rid of Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe . South Africans and the business sector have spoken out strongly against the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) decision to grant Eskom a 18.65% price increase in electricity tariffs  on 1 April, this as the country battles loadshedding, which is crippling the economy.
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CoJ to upgrade prepaid electricity meters to preempt 2024 token switch off

The City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ’s) electricity utility City Power will upgrade smart electricity meters, or replace older meters, as the token identifier system, which is the current prepaid electricity voucher system, will run out of voucher sequences for the unique tokens produced specifically for each meter by November 24, 2024. The token identifier system is a security measure that ensures a token can only be used once and for the meter number it was bought for. Tokens bought after November 24 next year will not be recognised by the current prepaid meters, which have been installed since 1993, says CoJ environment and infrastructure services MMC Michael Sun.
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