Growthpoint wheels first renewable electricity through Cape Town pilot project

JSE-listed real estate investment trust Growthpoint Properties South Africa has become the first party in South Africa to wheel renewable electricity through Cape Town’s energy grid, in collaboration with electricity trading company Etana Energy.

Wheeling involves electricity being bought and sold between private parties and being transported from where it is generated to end-users over long distances.

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SA imported an entire Eskom power station’s worth of solar panels – in just 6 months

South Africa quadrupled its solar panel imports from China in the first half of 2023 to 3.4GW – which, at peak production, amounts to nearly the generation capacity of Eskom’s Duvha or Matla power stations. Duvha and Matla have an installed capacity of 3.6GW each.
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High loadshedding stages ‘temporary’, as government assures it has measures to tackle blackouts

Cabinet has been given the assurance that the current higher stages of loadshedding are temporary. This is according to Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who said Cabinet had extensive meetings focusing on the country’s energy crisis.
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Renewables hosting capacity of existing Western Cape grid could be doubled with 10% curtailment

A preliminary analysis by two leading European transmission system operators (TSOs) shows that the capacity of the existing Western Cape grid alone to host variable renewable generators could be doubled under a scenario where no more than 10% curtailment is implemented. Curtailment involves the active reduction of output from wind and solar plants in response to system security needs or temporary transmission capacity constraints and is widely used by system operators to facilitate the introduction of renewable generators in a context of grid constraints.
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Energy council CEO sees 2023 as a turning point in the energy crisis, but warns of slow …

Industry body the Energy Council of South Africa CEO James Mackay has said there is sufficient reason to believe that loadshedding could end as early as the end of 2024, but warns that South Africa is not on track to meet its decarbonisation targets. Mackay was speaking at the Solutions From the Edge conference, hosted by housing financing organsiation International Housing Solutions and financial institution Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking, in Johannesburg, on September 14.
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Cabinet consulted on IRP update, but further input required before public release

Cabinet was consulted on the updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity during its meeting on September 13, but the document will be further consulted and revised before it is released for public comment. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni stressed in her post-Cabinet briefing that the document would undergo various iterations and that consultations with the executive represented only the first part of that iterative process.
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SIU’s Mothibi says contents of private Eskom investigation ‘cannot be ignored’

Special Investigating Unit head Advocate Andy Mothibi says the fact that former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter did not receive board authorisation to commission a private intelligence investigation into criminality and sabotage at the State-owned utility raises potentially grave governance issues. Nevertheless, he stresses that the report’s content “cannot be ignored” and is proving useful in guiding several ongoing investigations. In a presentation to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Mothibi confirmed that George Fivaz Forensics and Risk (GFFR) had been appointed by Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) to conduct the probe in a contract facilitated by De Ruyter, who “was acting on his own”.
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South Africa to co-host grid financing seminar with JSE in September

Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa reports that he is planning to co-host a seminar with the JSE in September to unpack various financing options for the expansion of South Africa’s electricity grid. Insufficient investment in the transmission system over the past number of years has emerged as a key constraint to the integration of much-needed new generation capacity and is particularly acute in regions with high-calibre wind and solar resources such as the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape provinces.
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Nine people arrested at the Kusile power station for theft of coal, fraud

Power utility Eskom reports that nine people were arrested at the Kusile power station on September 7 for theft of coal and fraud. Eight of the nine were weighbridge operators employed by Eskom Rotek Industries (ERI), with the ninth being a coal truck driver.
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Loadshedding to ease further on Saturday

Rugby fans can expect slightly fewer interruptions to their TV time this weekend, with scheduled power cuts expected to ease a little from early on Saturday morning.  This follows the implementation of Stage 6 when Eskom recently suffered several breakdowns at the same time as it ramped up maintenance.
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