JSE-listed paper and plastics packaging business and recycler Mpact’s product innovation, research and new production capacity is targeting sectors like export fruit, convenience shopping, recycling and waste management. The company is expecting to see sustained growth in these sectors, which are also partly shielded from South African consumer spending patterns.
A review of statistics over a seven-month period shows a considerable increase in cable theft arrests by the City of Cape Town’s Metal Theft Unit since November, the city says in a statement. The increase coincides with higher stages of loadshedding.
Although Africa is going through an “unavoidable” energy transition, South African Institute of Electrical Engineers president Prince Moyo believes the continent can “leapfrog” the trajectory of Western nations if it finds ways of making renewable energy components on the continent.
Speaking at an Energy Day event organised by power systems developer Hitachi Energy Southern Africa on March 7, he said the future of electricity development was heading away from industrial users, and towards being more energy efficient and renewable energy information systems instead.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has confirmed that five substation sites have been specified by Eskom for the public procurement of battery energy storage systems (BESS) with a combined capacity of 513 MW and a minimum of four hours of storage, or at least 2 052 MWh. A bid submission date of 17:00 on July 5 has been set and preferred bidders will be announced about two months thereafter. The projects are expected to be in operation 24 months after reaching commercial close.
There are some positives in the Cabinet reshuffle announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, with some appointments having been welcomed by industry organisations; however, many were concerned by underperforming ministers being kept on and some reassigned, changes not being sufficiently decisive and the Cabinet size not being reduced. Importantly, Ramaphosa named a new Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, and while the role he will play has been emphasised by some, other organisations have questioned the need for the position at all.
State power utility Eskom will miss a target to boost output from struggling coal-fired plants by the end of March, highlighting the poor state of equipment whose viability is being reviewed by German energy consultants. Eskom Holdings, which is subjecting South Africa to its worst-ever electricity outages, told lawmakers in January it planned to increase production from six struggling facilities by 1,862 megawatts by the end of March. That would be enough to meet the needs of South Africa’s second-biggest city of Cape Town, where peak demand in winter is 1,800 megawatts.
Greenpeace Africa on Tuesday disrupted Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe’s opening speech at the Africa Energy Indaba in Cape Town by staging a silent protest in front of the podium. Five protestors held up yellow placards that declared Coal = Corruption, Coal = Loadshedding and Gwede Stop Blocking Renewables.
Industry organisations the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) and the South Africa Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) have launched the 2023 South African Renewable Energy Grid Survey in conjunction with State-owned power utility Eskom. The 2023 version of the survey has been updated to account for projects that employ wheeling and has been expanded to capture even more detail per project to aid Eskom in its overall grid planning.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has dismissed what he called “unfounded allegations” by Good Party secretary general Brett Herron that he goes around the Eskom CEO and board to liaise directly with Eskom officials. Herron gave a television interview where he discussed the country’s energy crisis in the country and raised the allegations of Gordhan by-passing Eskom leadership.
Newly-appointed Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, reports that he will conduct an assessment over the coming seven to 14 days to help determine what powers he will request President Cyril Ramaphosa to transfer to him to tackle a supply deficit of about 10 000 MW. Ramokgopa’s deficit estimate, which he communicated during an interview on SAfm, is larger than the 4 000 MW to 6 000 MW shortfall previously communicated by Eskom and implies that the energy availability factor of the coal fleet is unlikely to recover as strongly as has been suggested by other government leaders.
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