Solar, wind and hybrid project developer, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance company JUWI South Africa now has 400 MW of EPC projects in advanced stages of development for mines in South Africa. This follows the financial close of the 89 MW Castle Wind project by the African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) Consortium for diversified miner Sibanye-Stillwater’s South African mining operations.
Telecommunications giant MTN South Africa is deploying multiple generation technologies, including solar, gas and battery energy systems, in one plant at its head office in Fairlands, Johannesburg, as it works toward becoming a standalone independent power producer (IPP). The plant, which houses five different generation technologies – said to be a first in South Africa – has a full load of 4.5 MW during loadshedding.
Diversified resources company Exxaro Resources expects to report a 6% decrease in export coal sales volumes to 2.51-million tonnes for the six months ended June 30, compared with 2.67-million tonnes for the six months ended December 31, 2022, as a result of Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR’s) poor rail performance to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) and the viability of trucking coal to alternative ports being negatively impacted by the lower coal prices. FD Riaan Koppeschaar notes in a pre-close statement to shareholders that TFR had railed 19.95-million tonnes of coal the RBCT during the five months ended May 31, which is equivalent to an annualised rate of 46.46-million tonnes.
Eskom is expecting demand for the rest of South Africa’s winter months to remain below levels initially assumed when the utility finalised its base case for the high-demand season (see graphic above), while it is also beginning to report improved generation performance at some of its coal stations. When Eskom unveiled its winter outlook on May 18, it warned that it might be forced to resort to Stage 8 loadshedding (representing 16 hours of cuts in a 32-hour cycle) should it fail to cap coal plant breakdowns to below 15 000 MW and should demand spike on the back of colder temperatures, particularly in Gauteng.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE’s) National Air Quality Officer (NAQO) has granted State-owned power utility Eskom a postponement to meet minimum emission standards (MES) at the Kusile power station, in Mpumalanga, from June 5 this year to March 31, 2025.
This postponement is subject to certain strict conditions.
The postponement application was necessitated by the failure of Kusile’s west stack on October 23 last year. The failure limited the power station’s ability to operate three commissioned generating units (Units 1,2, and 3).
Global energy demand rose 1% last year and record renewables growth did nothing to shift the dominance of fossil fuels, which still accounted for 82% of supply, the industry’s Statistical Review of World Energy report said on Monday. Last year was marked by turmoil in the energy markets after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which helped to boost gas and coal prices to record levels in Europe and Asia.
Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa confirmed that the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom) was considering a public–private partnership model to accelerate the building of the R210-billion-worth of grid infrastructure required to connect new generators to the grid, especially in provinces with potent wind and solar resources. Speaking during his weekly briefing on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan on Sunday, Ramaokgopa stressed that there was no intention of relinquishing State ownership of the grid, and that any arrangements would, thus, need to align with that condition.
Regulator-licensed South African electricity trader Enpower Trading is promoting wheeling and trading over municipal networks as a way of combatting the trend of “off-grid flight”, which poses a threat to electricity income that can contribute more than half of a municipality’s overall revenues. There is a growing demand from independent power producers (IPPs) and traders to transport, or wheel, electricity across both Eskom and municipal networks and such demand is expected to grow in light of reforms that could result in IPPs and traders seeking multiple customers for their surplus generation.
South Africa’s plan to split state power utility Eskom Holdings into three units envisions most of its R439-billion of debt being allocated to the generation business, which used most of the money. About R40-billion of debt will be held by the transmission unit, which is expected to be established this year, and R30-billion by the distribution unit, with the balance going to the generation division, Eskom said.
Remote control solution Schréder ITERRA offers site managers a robust, cost-effective and futureproof platform to run their infrastructure with the utmost flexibility for adapting lighting to any scenario or activity while maximising energy savings and providing the best possible experience for employees, visitors and managers. The solution requires no unnecessary cabling, no programmable logic controller, and is not a complicated commissioning process. Schréder ITERRA is the 100% wireless control system for indoor and outdoor industrial facilities and large areas, the company says, adding that it is based on a Bluetooth mesh network, and it offers a plug-and-play solution able to control all luminaires and floodlights using standard DALI, DALI-2 or 0-10V/1-10V protocols.
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