Patel outlines ‘step change’ investment, export and jobs targets for 2023/24

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel outlined firm investment, localisation, export and manufacturing jobs targets in his 2023/24 Budget Vote address to Parliament this week. In a speech prefaced by what the Minister described as a world in in the midst of ‘polycrisis’, or the simultaneous occurrence of several catastrophic events, Patel said his department’s central mission was to build a more resilient economy that was able to grow and transform “despite extraordinary headwinds and challenges”.
/by

Renewables alone will not solve energy crisis – NUMSA

The belief that renewable energy is the sole answer to South Africa’s energy crisis is irrational, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) general secretary Irvin Jim has said.

“You can’t run a factory by wind or sun. What happens when there is no wind and the sun is behind a cloud? It is like lying to children by telling them you can do a braai with a torch,” he quipped to delegates attending the Metal Industries Collective Bargaining Summit in Johannesburg on May 25.

/by

At $1bn a day, solar investment to outpace oil for first time in 2023

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is forecasting that investment in solar will rise to more than $1-billion a day, or to some $380-billion for 2023 as a whole, increasing spending on the renewable technology to above upstream oil for the first time ever. The agency’s World Energy Investment also indicates that more than $1.7-trillion of the $2.8-trillion to be invested in energy globally this year, will be directed towards clean technologies, including renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear, grids, storage, low-emission fuels, efficiency improvements and heat pumps.
/by

Namibia signs agreement opening way for feasibility study of $10bn green ammonia project

Namibia has taken another step towards the creation of a green hydrogen industry, after President Hage Geingob’s Cabinet agreed this week to sign a feasibility and implementation agreement (FIA) with Hyphen Hydrogen Energy for a $10-billion project to produce two-million tonnes of green ammonia yearly by 2029. Hyphen, which is a Namibian-registered joint venture between Nicholas Holdings Limited and Enertrag, was awarded preferred-bidder status on the project, earmarked for development on some 4 000 km2 of land within the Tsau //Khaeb National Park, near Lüderitz, in November 2021.
/by