Innovative 128 MW solar-wind-battery project achieves financial close

The 128 MW Oya Energy hybrid project, which will combine variable renewables and batteries to produce dispatchable electricity daily between 5:00 and 21:30 for injection into South Africa’s loadshedding-prone grid, reached financial close on Tuesday, February 13. The project was named as a preferred bidder for a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) under South Africa’s Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), which was launched as a so-called emergency procurement round in 2020 for some 2 000 MW.
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South Africa’s inaugural Grid Emission Measure highlights coal dependence

South Africa produced its inaugural official gauge of the carbon intensity of its electricity production, confirming its status as one of the world’s top producers per capita of greenhouse gases. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and he Environment this month said that the country’s domestic generation grid emission factor (DGGEF) a measure of the carbon intensity of electricity produced in the country, is 1.013 tons of carbon dioxide or its equivalent per megawatt hour. The department used 2021 data.
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IEA to launch security programme for minerals critical to energy sector

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is launching a programmeme to secure the supply of minerals critical to energy security, as demand rises fast while manufacturing remains in the hands of a few key producers, its executive director said on Tuesday. Fatih Birol said the production of electric cars, solar panels and other energy equipment requires a steady supply of minerals such as lithium, cobalt and copper.
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