Cape Town issues largest energy tender to date at 500 MW

In continuing its pursuit of becoming largely independent from the national grid, the City of Cape Town has announced it is issuing its largest energy tender to date at 500 MW.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis is confident the city will be the first metro to break free from Eskom’s hold, while ensuring meaningful economic growth and investment in the city.

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Egyptian nuclear regulator OKs construction of the country’s third nuclear reactor

The Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) has issued the construction licence for the third reactor (Unit 3) of the country’s four-reactor nuclear power plant (NPP) at El Dabaa, “World Nuclear News” has reported. El Dabaa will be the country’s first NPP and is located on the Mediterranean coast, some 320 km north west of Cairo. (Egypt currently operates one 22 MWt capacity research reactor.) El Dabaa is being developed and will be operated by the country’s Nuclear Power Plant Authority (NPPA). Its reactors will be to the Russian State-owned nuclear energy group Rosatom’s VVER-1200 design, already in use at Russia’s Leningrad and Novovoronezh NPPs and at Belarus’ Ostrovets NPP.
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Talks under way on next funding flows from Germany to South Africa under JETP

Discussions are under way between the German and South African governments regarding the disbursement of the next tranche of the European country’s concessional funding under the $8.5-billion Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), initially unveiled in 2021. Germany has committed to provide $1.4-billion under the JETP, which is also being supported by the other International Partnership Group participants of France, the UK, the US and the European Union.
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Meeting global EV targets will be ‘extremely challenging’ owing to raw material shortages

Chemicals company BASF global precious metal services senior VP Timothy Ingle told delegates attending the Platinum Group Metals Day, in Johannesburg, earlier this week, that it would be extremely challenging from a raw material perspective to meet the expected global uptake of ten-million electric vehicles (EVs) this year and the goal of reaching 40-million EVs on the road by 2030. Ingle pointed to challenges faced globally with securing base metal supply and, in particular, lithium and class one nickel.
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South Africa pushes to delay coal plant closures

South Africa has told rich countries backing its $8.5-billion energy transition deal that it wants to delay the closure of some units at its coal-fired power plants, people familiar with the situation said. Years of mismanagement and corruption have decimated South Africa’s coal-dependent power sector but connecting the renewable energy units envisaged under its Just Energy Transition Partnership will take longer than expected.
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Absa Green Deposit investment product for corporates to invest in green assets

Financial services firm Absa has secured the opening investment in its Absa Green Deposit, which is an investment product that will link funds raised to a ring-fenced portfolio of eligible green assets and provide corporate companies in South Africa with an attractive yield. This initial tranche of funding will be used to finance or re-finance an equivalent amount of renewable energy projects. The initial investment was made by Italian utility local renewable energy subsidiary Enel Green Power South Africa.
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Martin Buys appointed Eskom acting CFO

State-owned power utility Eskom says group finance GM Martin Buys will serve as acting CFO with immediate effect and until further notice. It says Buys is a seasoned executive who started his career at Eskom in 1987.
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Major player moving to secure power purchase agreements

As South Africa’s energy crisis continues, global renewable resource company Sappi is actively engaging with independent renewable-energy producers to secure renewable energy as and when it becomes available, through power purchase agreements. Buying renewable energy is one of three investment categories under the company’s South African decarbonisation and/or energy plan.
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Nordex, EU partners seek to ensure fully recyclable turbines by 2032

Onshore wind turbine manufacturer Nordex is participating in a sustainability project, funded by the European Union (EU), to drive the recycling of high-value materials from wind turbine blades. Currently, 85% to 95% of a Nordex wind turbine is recyclable. For many of the materials used, there are established recycling processes for environment-friendly disposal, especially for steel and concrete, which make up the largest share of a wind turbine in the tower and foundation.
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De Ruyter to meet with lawmakers about corruption allegations

Andre de Ruyter, the former CEO of State-owned power utility Eskom Holdings who said the organisation was riddled with corruption, has agreed to appear before the South African parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts and also present a written submission. He will be asked about corruption, theft, maladministration, sabotage, lack of consequence management, cartels and other financial irregularities at Eskom, the committee said in an emailed statement. A date for the meeting hasn’t been set yet.
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