The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) reports that it registered a further 98 generation facilities – with a combined capacity of 908 MW and an investment value of R17.3-billion – during the second quarter of its 2023/24 financial year. These registrations, which took place from July to September, raise to 1 185 the total number of generation facilities registered since 2018.
The financial close and start of construction of two additional renewable energy projects for Sibanye-Stillwater’s South Africa operations has been announced. The first project, the Witberg wind energy project, located near Matjiesfontein in the Western Cape province with a contracted capacity of 103 MW, will generate renewable energy and supply the South Africa operations via a wheeling agreement with South Africa’s State-owned power utility enterprise Eskom.
Two 75-MW apiece solar photovoltaic (PV) projects bid under the much-delayed Bid Window Five (BW5) of South Africa’s public renewables procurement programme have officially advanced to commercial close and will enter construction in early 2024. The projects are Grootspruit, in the Free State, and Graspan, in the Northern Cape, and will be built and operated by ENGIE in partnership with Pele Green Energy.
Electromechanical engineering company Ramohlale Industries in October launched its new offices and factory facility at the N1 Industrial Park in Polokwane, Limpopo.
South African independent power producer the SOLA Group has started construction on a pioneering 195 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the Free State, which will wheel and sell clean electricity across the country to multiple buyers eager to decarbonised their operations. The R2.8-billion project has already secured an initial three multinational anchor offtakers, but SOLA has reserved a significant portion of the project’s energy for flexible, short-term power purchase agreements with a wide range of customers.
Two studies ordered by South Africa’s government into the impact of air pollution on community and child health showed emission limits it imposed on companies that emit the toxins are insufficient. The studies were undertaken in key industrial regions by academics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, a state research agency, and were completed in 2016 and 2019, copies seen by Bloomberg show.
Independent power producer (IPP) Red Rocket reports that it has signed up customers for 500 MW of the 2 000 MW of capacity it aims to deploy over the coming three years as part of an innovative scheme designed to provide multiple private offtakers with renewable electricity as from 2026. In recent weeks, the company has been running a national advertising campaign inviting potential customers to make contact regarding its intention to sell “affordable, renewable energy to businesses”.
In this opinion article, Renew-e managing partner and co-founder Etienne Rübbers argues that where the green energy jobs are created will be important in ensuring that the energy transition is just.
The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) will decide in January whether to grant Eskom’s request for the Koeberg Unit 1 and Unit 2 licences to be separated to reflect a later commercial operation date for Unit 2 to enable the unit’s continued operation beyond July 2024. Should the NNR board refuse Eskom’s request for a decoupling, the regulator has confirmed both Koeberg units will be offline simultaneously as from July 21, given Eskom’s announcement that Unit 1 is scheduled to undergo another 200-day outage as from that date for further compulsory maintenance, including an integrated leak test of the containment building.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed concern that the developed economies are still not meeting their obligations to support developing countries with the finance, technology and capacity building needed for effective climate actions. In his weekly newsletter, following his attendance at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, known as COP28, he said, “the operationalisation at COP28 of a fund to help vulnerable countries with loss and damage caused by climate change is a step in the right direction, but it will need substantial funding if it is to fulfil its purpose”.
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