Many wind turbine components can be recycled

An issue regarding wind farms that will have to be addressed is how to handle their inevitable decommissioning issues, including what to do with wind turbines (towers, machinery and blades) that have reached the end of their lives. This was the subject of a panel discussion on Thursday at the Windaba 2023 conference, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Dorper Wind Farm CEO and GM Mamoso May affirmed that educating people about what would happen at the end of a wind farm’s life should start now. And that education had to be across the wider South African society, not just in the communities adjacent to wind farms.
/by

Pace of energy transition will define South Africa’s economic prospects – Olver

Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) executive director Dr Crispian Olver says South Africa’s energy transition and the pace at which it progresses will determine the country’s long-term economic and human-development prospects and should, thus, no longer be treated only as an environmental problem. Speaking at the Joburg Indaba, Olver acknowledged that stakeholders were “not of one mind” regarding the pace of the transition, despite broad-based agreement that South Africa needed to reduce its emissions, which are strongly associated with the continued dominance of coal in domestic energy production.
/by

Swiss team to attempt record high-altitude drive with solar truck

In an attempt to set a new world record for driving a wheeled vehicle to the highest altitude possible, a team of three men from Switzerland are preparing to reach the summit of the Ojos Del Salado volcano, in the barren Atacama region of Chile using an electric, solar-powered special purpose truck.

Reaching high elevations using a vehicle with a conventional internal combustion engine is challenging because of the low volumes of oxygen present at high altitudes, thereby presenting problems in the form of increasingly degraded engine power as altitudes increase.

/by

Business, govt collaboration demonstrates improvements in multiple crises

Business is working to add more than 10 GW of generation capacity to the electricity system by the end of next year, which would effectively end loadshedding in South Africa, Sasol president and CEO Fleetwood Grobler said on the first day of the Joburg Indaba on October 4. Speaking in his additional capacity as the chairperson of the Energy Council of South Africa, he told delegates that various businesses were focusing on improving the energy availability factor and the efficiency of power utility Eskom, as well as adding new generation capacity and reforming the energy sector.
/by

Opinion: Virtual Wheeling 101

In this opinion article, Jason van der Poel and Hannah Milner of Webber Wentzel discuss Eskom’s virtual wheeling pilot and how the roll-out of the programme will enable companies with multiple offtake sites to connect to generators using the Eskom or municipal grids.
/by

Africa using only ‘very small’ percentage of wind power potential – GWEC

Africa is utilising less than 1% of its wind power potential, which is “very, very, very little”, says Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) Africa director Wangari Muchiri. A new report released at Windaba 2023 this week shows that the continent has 9 GW of wind energy installed, but that the potential hovers around 33 000 GW.
/by

PIC to grow green energy book beyond R16.5bn

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) intends to increase its investment in renewable energy as South Africa battles to resolve a power crisis that’s stifling economic growth. “If you look at our renewable energy book, we have now funded and have got an exposure of R16.5-billion – and it is going to grow,” Kabelo Rikhotso, chief investment officer at the PIC said on Tuesday.
/by

Standard Bank’s pipeline of private utility scale renewables projects stands at 4 GW

Standard Bank reports that it has financed 400 MW of distributed generation since government’s recent decision to allow utility scale projects of any size to proceed without a licence even when wheeling electricity through the grid. In addition, its pipeline of such projects for the coming 12 months has increased to 4 GW, including some 1 GW-worth of capacity that is expected to reach financial close within the coming six months. Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) head Zaid Moola described the reform to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act, which initially removed the licensing requirement for projects below 100 MW in 2021 and later lifted the threshold altogether, as a “proper game changer”.
/by

Focus on microgrids while grid capacity issues are being resolved – Winde

The current capacity constraints in Eskom’s transmission system can, to a degree, be countered by a focus on microgrids, says Western Cape premier Alan Winde. Speaking at Windaba Connect in Cape Town, he noted that it could “take years” for the national grid to be able to move the large number of gigawatts required to end loadshedding.
/by

Fuel cell electric vehicle demonstration seen as catalyst for nascent green hydrogen economy

In a milestone for South Africa’s nascent green hydrogen economy, three large corporates have teamed up to showcase the potential of using domestically produced hydrogen as a zero-emission transportation alternative. During a demonstration in Gauteng, a second-generation Toyota Mirai fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) was refuelled with hydrogen produced by Sasol in Sasolburg, in the Free State. The hydrogen was transported by truck in an Air Products tube trailer, and the vehicle was refuelled on site using the US multinational’s mobile hydrogen dispensing technology.
/by