Reeling from South Africa’s worst-ever electricity crisis, local authorities across the country are turning to private suppliers to help businesses and households keep the lights on. President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a state of disaster over the energy crunch, which is seen wiping as much as two percentage points off economic growth this year.
Resolving the energy crisis, growing the tourism sector and ensuring water security in KwaZulu-Natal were among the priorities discussed during the provincial planning Lekgotla last week. The planning Lekgotla takes place ahead of the State of the Province Address (SoPA), which will be held on February 24. During the Lekgotla, Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube said the impact of sustained loadshedding had derailed potential investments and investors, further causing untold damage to the economy of the …
Eskom has confirmed that it is in the process of reviewing the current framework that governs loadshedding amid renewed concern that the State-owned utility may need to implement rotational cuts beyond the Stage 6 level that has already been declared several times this year, and possibly even beyond the eight stages catered for under the current framework. CEO André de Ruyter offered an assurance on Monday that the utility was not expecting to have to move beyond Stage 6 loadshedding this week, despite a severely constrained system, indicating that the intensity of loadshedding should be reduced to Stage 4 by Thursday morning.
The Umoya Energy Wind Farm situated on the West Coast, in the Western Cape, has painted the blades of its wind turbines as a mitigation measure to conserve avifauna. Blade painting entails the painting of one of the three blades on a wind turbine black or red. The effect of the single painted blade breaks up the so-called motion-smear experienced by most bird species that renders the blade invisible to them, explains renewable energy company Energy Infrastructure Management Services (EIMS) Africa, which owns Umoya.
Private fund managers Mahlako Energy Fund (MEF), Mergence Investment Managers and Third Way Investment Partners have teamed up to fund a fellow investment company, Aventro Investments, to help increase its shareholding and involvement in the Redstone 100 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project, near Kimberley, in the Northern Cape.
The funding arrangement brings together a women-led investment team to support another women-led investment firm in boosting its shareholding in the Redstone CSP and molten salt project.
Business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso has said that no matter what financial salves Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana allocates to soothe South Africa’s numerous economic ailments in his Budget speech on February 22, the money will not achieve much unless there is a significant improvement in government’s ability to implement policy and spend the funds effectively. “A glance at the unfortunate states of our public health and education systems shows that often it is not lack of money but inappropriately capacitated departments, misgovernance and, sadly, corruption that causes the problems,” she said in her February 20 newsletter.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana faces the task of incorporating a credible debt-relief plan for the stricken state power utility in the national budget while stabilizing government finances as record blackouts weigh on the economy. The minister said in October the state will absorb between one- and two-thirds of Eskom Holdings’ liabilities of about R400-billion. The amount and some of the transfer terms are likely to be announced in his February 22 budget. Nine of 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg reckon the government can afford to assume half the utility’s loan obligations without compromising efforts to reduce the budget deficit and rein in debt.
Eskom has implemented continuous Stage 6 until further notice after eight generating units broke down on Sunday. “Given the high number of breakdowns, there is a possibility of further changes on the stages of load shedding at short notice,” the power utility said.
The National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM) reports that the initial market response to Eskom’s moves to purchase electricity that is immediately available from entities that generate their own power has been positive, with some 400 MW of interest in both its Standard Offer Programme and its Emergency Generator Programme. Rudi Dicks of the NECOM secretariat reported on Friday that there was still an expectation that the two programmes could secure up to 1 000 MW of additional electricity in the short-term and confirmed that funding for the Standard Offer had been secured through the tariff increase announced by the regulator recently.
With the thirty-sixth Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State being held in Ethiopia over the weekend of February 18 and 19, civil society organisations (CSOs) have called for the AU to play a more ambitious role in creating a fossil fuel-free energy future in Africa. CSOs have begun circulating a report titled the ‘Fossil Fuelled Fallacy’ to Heads of State and Ministers attending the AU meeting. The document outlines how expanding gas production in Africa would supposedly undermine almost every element of development, including increasing the risk of stranded assets and expensive energy, encouraging foreign ownership of African resources, creating fewer jobs and causing widespread harm to health and livelihoods.
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