Loadshedding won’t be ended ‘through an act of God’, says electricity minister

Newly appointed Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa visited the Lethabo Power Station in the Free State last week. He said Lethabo had been the first power station he visited last week that was performing well. 
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China Energy proposes $1bn floating solar farm In Zimbabwe

China Energy Engineering Group proposed building a 1 000 MW floating solar farm for Zimbabwe, a nearly $1-billion project, on the world’s largest man-made lake. More than 1.8 million photovoltaic panels installed over 146 modular floating units would be used for the project on Lake Kariba if it went ahead, according to an official report that was prepared for the state’s power utility and potential private equity funders by the company and seen by Bloomberg. The civil engineering works would cost $186-million and installation $801-million, according to China Energy.
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Sasol succession plan in place as CEO’s term set to end in 2024

Sasol said it has a plan in place to find a successor for CEO Fleetwood Grobler, whose term of running South Africa’s biggest publicly traded company by revenue will end next year. The board’s nomination and governance committee started a “process to identify a suitable successor” to Grobler in 2022, chairperson Sipho Nkosi said in an emailed response to questions. The company will announce the new CEO in the first half of 2024, he said.
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Absa announces net-zero emissions targets for 2050

Financial services firm Absa has announced that its long-term ambition is to reach net-zero by 2050 for Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse-gas emissions. It has also committed to setting near- and long-term Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets and having these targets validated by private sector climate action organisation the Science-Based Targets initiative.
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Opinion: Funding social justice in the energy transition, a role for private sector financing …

In the executive summary of a new report, commissioned by the African Climate Foundation, Intellidex writes that the status quo is not fit for purpose to support the financing of the social justice issues in the Just Energy Transition required and more innovative thinking on structures, institutions and combinations of capital flows are required urgently to generate the kinds of scales of financing for transition projects across mitigation, adaptation and resilience.
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Opinion: The role of electric vehicles in SA’s energy transition

In this opinion article, South African National Energy Development Institute CEO Dr Titus Mathe writes about the role of electric vehicles in South Africa’s energy transition. 
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DA says Ramokgopa’s ‘reckless remarks’ will reverse energy gains

The Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Kevin Mileham said on Friday that Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s remarks, which suggest there is no urgency to unbundle Eskom, spread further uncertainty among investors with stakes in independent power generation projects across the country. Mileham says South Africa needs clear direction and policy certainty during a crippling energy crisis.
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Cape Town issues RFI for energy trading solutions

Further to its energy security initiatives to become independent from the national grid, the City of Cape Town has issued a request for information (RFI) asking the market for energy trading solutions, including market operation and underwriting and energy aggregation services.

Interested stakeholders are invited to access the RFI on the city’s tender portal at http://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/TenderPortal/Tender and to submit responses by April 19.

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300% growth demand noted by solar company

Renewable-energy solution provider Solar MD has noted a 300% growth in demand for energy storage solutions in South Africa, owing to increasing demand for energy storage products in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. “While the residential sector has shown steady linear growth, the industrial sector has been experiencing exponential growth, owing to the need to address energy supply challenges and improve energy efficiency,” says Solar MD CEO Kaloyan Dimov.
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Private sector seen as key to unblocking transition-enabling grid capacity

The lack of transmission infrastructure public funding for grid strengthening and expansion has emerged as a binding constraint on connecting much-needed private generation and on South Africa’s transitioning to a more reliable and cleaner electricity sector. Thus, there are growing calls for not only the separation of the National Transmission Company South Africa from generation-focused Eskom but also private-sector participation in the funding, building and operation of parts of the grid to accelerate the development of the infrastructure needed to end loadshedding and facilitate the energy transition.
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