Comprehensive energy audits and advanced lithium-ion batteries have enabled renewable energy company Blockpower to ensure a stable and high-quality power supply for The Emerald development, in Gauteng’s Hyde Park, while significantly reducing carbon emissions and promoting environment-conscious development. The company specialises in designing and installing hybrid renewable energy plants.
Eskom has inked a two-year contract with its former chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer to oversee projects at Kusile and Koeberg, members of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) heard during a visit to Eskom headquarters Megawatt Park on Wednesday. Oberholzer officially retired in April this year, with the board saying it planned to scrap the position of COO upon his departure. His retirement followed the contentious exit of former chief executive officer André de Ruyter.
South African energy and chemicals group Sasol and Danish decarbonisation technology company Topsoe have formed a 50:50 JV to develop, build, own, and operate drop-in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plants globally. The fuels will be produced primarily from non-fossil feedstock – such as green hydrogen, biomass and sustainable sources of carbon dioxide – using Sasol’s Fischer Tropsch and Topsoe technologies, such as its Hydroflex solution to process vegetable oils, waste oils, or fats into HEFA-based SAF.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands and South African State-owned power utility Eskom have signed a letter of intent to collaborate on the development and implementation of just energy transition (JET) initiatives to support job creation and community upliftment around the Grootvlei power station. The initiatives are aimed at increasing job creation, driving economic growth and improving the local environment surrounding the Grootvlei power station as it transitions from coal generation into a renewable energy hub.
The City of Cape Town has secured €100-million (R2-billion) in development finance for infrastructure projects. The loan is to be provided by France’s development bank, Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD). The bulk of the funding (49%) will be directed to water and sanitation, followed by public transport initiatives called urban mobility (24%) and access to electricity (17%).
In this article, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) head of policy Lebogang Mulaisi writes that the Presidential Climate Commission’s electricity recommendation signals a potential structural shift in electricity planning for South Africa and what this could mean for labour. According to the Global Change Institute, based at the University of the Witwatersrand, one of the top five risks of climate change is “a badly-handled transition to low-carbon energy.” An unjust transition represents a lost opportunity to democratise ownership within the energy sector.
The Namibian government has confirmed that it will take up a 24% equity stake in a $10-billion green hydrogen project being developed in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park, near Lüderitz. Finance Minister Iipumbu Shiimi said the decision to take up the position in the project, the investment value of which is almost equivalent to the country’s gross domestic product, followed on from the finalisation of agreements for the establishment of SDG Namibia One.
Vertically integrated vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals has appointed Craig Coltman to succeed Fortune Mojapelo as CE, with effect from July 1. Coltman has worked for De Beers Consolidated Mines in operational and commercial roles over 32 years. He is also the chairperson of the De Beers Pension Fund.
Yearly clean energy investments in emerging and developing economies will need to more than triple from $770-billion currently to as much as $2.8-trillion by the early 2030s in order to meet rising energy demand in a way that is aligned with the Paris Agreement, a new international report states. Produce jointly by the International Energy Agency and the International Finance Corporation the study also calculates that a far steeper seven-fold investment increase (from $260-billion to $1.9-trillion yearly) is required once China is excluded from this grouping of countries.
Up to 64% of small businesses in South Africa’s townships stop operating when there is loadshedding, about 60% have had to reduce employee numbers to survive and about 7% have permanently shut their businesses as the costs to trade had become unrecoverable. These were some of the findings of a recent study presented during a webinar, titled ‘The Energy Crisis: What is being done to support small businesses?’ hosted by small enterprise institution the Small Business Institute on June 20.