Mayor shares tangible progress on loadshed-proofing Drakenstein

The Drakenstein municipality, in the Western Cape, has reiterated its commitment to delivering quality municipal services and that its Eskom Loadshedding Resilience Plan will be delivered sustainably.

Executive mayor Conrad Poole says in a release issued on March 16 that Drakenstein will not be a municipality that misleads its community with quick and grand promises of alternative energy solutions that will supposedly replace Eskom and get the area off the grid.

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Transmission infrastructure should also be privatised, investment firm argues

While electricity generation capacity in South Africa is increasingly being privatised and decentralised, the government has stated that transmission infrastructure must remain in the hands of the public sector to ensure equal access. However, uncertainty remains regarding whether the government will be able to expand the transmission grid sufficiently and quickly enough to accommodate the plethora of renewable electricity generation projects that are being held up by transmission bottlenecks, particularly in the Northern Cape, where the most opportunities for renewable energy generation capacity lie.
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Eskom’s 18.65% hike has been tabled in Parliament opening way for April implementation

The average tariff increase for various categories of Eskom customers arising from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) recent allowable revenue decision has been tabled in Parliament as is required for these increases to be legally implemented on April 1. On January 12, Nersa approved revenue of R318-billion for the State-owned utility for 2023/24 and R352-billion for 2024/25. Once translated to increases in Eskom’s standard tariff, these revenue increases amount to a hike of 18.65% for this financial year and 12.74% in 2024/25.
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S&P places Eskom on CreditWatch positive on expected government support

Ratings agency S&P Global Ratings has placed its ratings on State-owned utility Eskom on CreditWatch with positive implications, including its ‘CCC+’ issuer credit rating and ‘zaB’ South Africa national scale long-term rating. S&P attributes this to the South African government’s planned R254-billion ($14-billion) debt relief agreement, which the agency expects will address Eskom’s near-term debt obligations once implemented and give the utility room to focus on operational improvements and electricity sector reform targets.
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NRF CEO Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo named SAIEE Engineer of the Year

Independent statutory body the National Research Foundation (NRF) CEO Dr Fulufhelo Nelwamondo has been named Engineer of the Year by the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) at its 2022 Annual Awards held at the Indaba Hotel and Conference Centre, in Johannesburg, on March 10. The SAIEE Engineer of the Year Award is conferred on a member of the SAIEE judged to have energetically and voluntarily worked towards promoting electrical science and its applications for the benefit of its members and the Southern African community.
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Massmart, RCS offer retail customers solar funding loans

Mass retailer Massmart, in partnership with consumer finance company Retail Credit Solutions (RCS), has introduced a solar energy funding solution in the form of a loan of up to R250 000 for customers wanting to invest in alternative energy sources to cope with loadshedding. Massmart offers flexible payment plans in which fixed monthly repayments can be tailored to the customer’s monthly expense budget. To achieve this, the repayment period can be extended from 12 to 60 months, the company said.
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Eskom granted exemption to operate temporary stacks at Kusile for 13 months

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy has granted Eskom exemption that will enable it to operate temporary stacks at the Kusile power station, in Mpumalanga, for 13 months without using the flue-gas delsuphurisation (FGD) mechanism. The exemption, which was granted on March 14, has not been extended in terms of the newly published State of Disaster regulations as requested by Eskom, but rather in line with Section 59 of the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act (NEMAQA), and includes several conditions.
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Schneider Electric, UJ open 4IR experience room for engineering students

Energy management and automation multinational Schneider Electric and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment have unveiled a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Experience Room on the university’s Auckland Park campus. The room is a practical demonstration of the inner workings of 4IR, its interconnectivity and relevance in sectors such as energy, and is focused on engineering faculty students, the company said.
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South Africa has plans in place to safeguard food supply amid power crisis

South Africa’s government has contingency plans in place to safeguard key food-production facilities against an escalation in power cuts that are already at record levels, the nation’s agriculture minister said. Africa’s most industrialized economy has been subjected to rolling blackouts, known locally as loadshedding, since 2008 because state power utility Eskom Holdings has been unable to meet demand from its old and poorly maintained plants. The problem has escalated since last year, raising concerns that food security is at risk.
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€15m Just SA launched in bid to unlock Mpumalanga transition projects

A new €15-million initiative has been launched to provide research and technical support for “catalytic” just transition projects in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, currently the centre of South Africa’s coal industry and where 22 GW of coal-fired power capacity is scheduled for retirement before 2035. Dubbed Just SA, the ‘Just Transition to a Decarbonised Economy for South Africa’ project is being funded by the German government’s International Climate Initiative and will be implemented over a five-year period.
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