South Africa’s electricity problems have left the country without power for many hours a day, causing grave difficulties for businesses and households, notes power generation and electromechanical power transmission product supplier Vert Energy. “The inability of the country’s primary electricity supplier to meet demand has called for the private sector to step up and provide solutions that help keep businesses, education facilities, hospitals and more running, in the event of power outages and loadshedding,” explains Vert Energy sales and marketing director Ryan Robertson.
Grid-scale energy storage solutions company Energy Vault has signed a licensing and royalty agreement with a South African consortium, established with the aim of deploying the NYSE-listed company’s gravity energy storage systems across the 16 countries that make up the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc. The agreement is with Gravity Energy Storage Solutions (GESSOL), an entity comprising JSE-listed construction group WBHO, iX Engineers, and Sizana Solutions, which has been partnering with Energy Vault in Southern Africa since 2019.
The global and local renewable energy transition is presenting industries, and South Africa, with a once-in-a-century growth trajectory to provide products and components into the value chains of renewable energy and battery energy storage systems (BESSs). During the second quarter of 2023, more than $1.7-billion worth of solar panels, inverters and lithium-ion battery systems were imported into South Africa, and this number excludes other components and parts.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) installation company SolarSaver has added batteries to the existing grid-tied installation at Burnview Dairy to create a hybrid system. It will also add batteries to the Creighton Valley Cheese Company’s grid-tied installation to increase its output by 50 kW. SolarSaver completed a grid-tied solar installation at the Creighton Valley Cheese Company during 2020.
Independent Power Producer (IPP) Office head Bernard Magoro has signalled that the projects bid during the current seventh renewables procurement bid window could carry a price premium, as bidders adjust to the spatial realities that have arisen as a result of the country’s prevailing grid constraints. Through the bid window, which was launched in December, government is seeking to procure 3 200 MW of onshore wind and 1 800 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity and a bid submission deadline of the end of April has been set.
Nasdaq-listed American Resources Corporation’s ReElement Technologies has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with energy storage company Afrivolt to establish a lithium-battery and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing ecosystem in Africa, with a specific focus on West Africa. Afrivolt aims to develop large industrial projects to support the build-out of Africa’s regional and global lithium-ion battery supply chains.
A new International Energy Agency (IEA) report on electricity highlights that per person electricity demand across Africa has been stagnant for three decades, making the continent a worrying outlier in electricity demand trends. As of 2023, 600-million people, or more than 40% of the African population, lacked access to electricity, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.
South African energy company Aqora has rebranded to become Afrivolt, says MD Deshan Naidoo. The firm’s goal, however, remains the same – opening a lithium-ion cell gigafactory in South Africa, able to produce anodes, cathodes and lithium-ion batteries for stationary storage applications and, in the medium term, for electric vehicles (EVs). Procuring and processing the minerals and metals needed for the factory within Africa has become more of a longer-term plan, adds Naidoo, with cell …
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa reports that government plans to establish an independent transmission project office, located either at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) or the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), to procure new transmission capacity using a build, operate and transfer (BOT) model. He used his latest briefing on the Energy Action Plan to again emphasise the importance of expanding the country’s electricity networks to help end loadshedding, which has been undermining the growth and development of the economy for some 14 years.
In what is believed to be the biggest such project implemented, so far, at a major South African golf club, a solar power and battery microgrid has been commissioned at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. The project was the fruit of collaboration between the club, Solarise Africa, Hooray Power and Caracal Engineering. “Selecting Solarise Africa as our energy partner was a strategic decision driven by their expert approach, proven success, and innovative power purchase [PPA] model that relieved us of the capital burden associated with outright purchase and future technology requirements,” explained golf club CEO Christopher Bentley. “With our solar system now operational, generating around 400 MWh of energy per year, we anticipate substantial savings on our monthly energy bills, coupled with the assurance of a constant energy supply. This venture not only secures our financial interests but also aligns seamlessly with our commitment to environmental sustainability.”
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