Solar power investment will reduce loadshedding and increase employment growth in 2024, and jobs are being created on the back of a growing resilience among businesses against the negative impacts of loadshedding, says assurance, advisory and tax services firm PwC South Africa in its eighth ‘South Africa Economic Outlook’ report. Employment is growing at a faster rate than many have expected given the elevated levels of loadshedding. The pipeline for large-scale solar projects is also improving the outlook for economic and employment growth in 2024 and beyond, it says in the report.
Downscaled engineering and contracting group Murray & Roberts (M&R) is continuing with efforts to regain control of RUC, the Australian mining services business it lost when its Australian holding company and Clough entered voluntary administration in December. Speaking at the company’s results presentation, CEO Henry Laas refused to be drawn on the precise nature of processes currently being pursued to recover the company, saying only “we are still in the race”.
Power utility Eskom says Stage 4 loadshedding will continue to be implemented daily until 05:00 on Sunday. Thereafter, Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented until 16:00. “This is necessary due to the need to recover emergency generation reserves, and the generation maintenance to be implemented in preparation for the coming week,” it states.
Two more preferred bidders selected as part of the much-delayed Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), which was launched as an emergency procurement round in 2020, have signed project agreements signalling legal close and have until December to reach financial close. The projects, which have a combined investment value of R14.6-billion, are the 128 MW Oya Energy Hybrid Facility, proposed for development in Matjiesfontein, which straddles the Northern and Western Cape provinces, and the 75 MW Umoyilanga Energy, near Avondale in the Northern Cape and Dassiesridge, in the Eastern Cape.
Telecommunications giant Vodacom and South African State-owned power utility Eskom on Wednesday signed a first-of-its-kind virtual wheeling agreement that moves the JSE-listed firm closer to its goal of sourcing 100% of its electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2025 while adding capacity to the strained national grid. The agreement, co-developed by the parties to help accelerate efforts to solve the country’s energy crisis, enables Vodacom to secure independent power producers (IPPs) on the same terms and conditions that underpin its agreement with Eskom.
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has confirmed that transitional arrangements are being put in place to ensure that the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA) will be able to play the role of a transmission system and market operator ahead of legislative changes catering for that role. NTCSA is currently being established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Eskom Holdings, and acting DPE director-general Jacky Molisane told lawmakers in a briefing that the appointment of an independent board for the entity was under way, with a list of directors having been received by the department.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) has, together with the Land Bank, launched a blended financing instrument to aid farmers in accessing alternative energy solutions amid the electricity supply crisis. While State-owned energy utility Eskom has been providing load curtailment agreements to stakeholders in the agriculture industry, government deemed it prudent to help minimise interrupted production from loadshedding further, particularly for large energy users.
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe is aiming to seek Cabinet approval to publish an updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for public consultation during an upcoming Cabinet meeting in September. Speaking on the sidelines of a critical minerals summit in Sandton, Mantashe indicated that he would be presenting the document, which he dubbed ‘IRP 2023’, at a Cabinet committee meeting during the first week of September with the aim of making a presentation to Cabinet itself at the subsequent meeting of the executive.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has once again snubbed the Western Cape legislature’s ad-hoc committee on the energy crisis. Ramokgopa was expected to brief the committee on the impact of loadshedding on the province on Tuesday, but informed the committee chairperson at the eleventh hour that he would not be able to make it.
Sasol’s appeal of the National Air Quality Officer’s (NAQO’s) July 11 refusal to approve an alternative approach for measuring the sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from the 17 coal boilers at the group’s Secunda complex, in Mpumalanga, is being strongly opposed by shareholder activism organisation Just Share. Sasol lodged an appeal with Environment Minister Barbara Creecy on July 30, after the NAQO declined its application to have the boilers’ SO2 emissions regulated, from April 1, 2025 onwards, using a load-based emission limit rather than the prevailing concentration-based emissions limit used for setting Minimum Emission Standards (MES).
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