Collaboration and grid investment key to making 2024 a turning point in SA’s power crisis

If South Africa’s energy investment programmes and reforms continue, the energy availability factor (EAF) for State-owned utility Eskom’s coal fleet does not decline, and business partnerships and collaboration endure, it is possible to, from a societal perspective, effectively end loadshedding by the end of this year. This is the assessment of Energy Council CEO James Mackay, who participated in a recent Webinar hosted by Creamer Media on the ‘Energy Outlook for 2024’.
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Reducing corrosion in waste heat boilers

The corrosion of waste heat boilers (WHBs) – which are crucial in the recovery and use of heat generated as a by-product by non-ferrous pyrometallurgical plants globally – has a detrimental impact on asset life and overall performance, according to international surface protection solutions provider Integrated Global Services (IGS).  The flue gas stream within a smelting furnace WHB has comparatively high dust content, that may either slag on the surface depending on its melting point temperature or erode waterwalls. In general, metal oxides are present in the dust and are characterised as very erosive media.
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Eskom to roll-out ‘load limiting’ to more Gauteng areas following Fourways pilot

Eskom is aiming to expand the coverage of its so-called ‘load limiting project’ – where households equipped with smart meters continue to receive limited power supply during periods of Stage 1 to 4 loadshedding –  to more Gauteng suburbs, following a pilot project in the Fourways area. The utility reports that, following a good reception in Fourways, the demand side management initiative was extended to Riverside View in the second half of 2023 and that it will now be implemented in Buccleuch, Kelvin, Paulshof, Marlboro, Sunninghill and Waterfall.
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DMRE to remodel draft IRP 2023 in light of new information, curtailment plans

Many of the submissions the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has received from the first round of public engagements about the draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023 (IRP 2023) in January have revealed new sources of data to consider in the plan’s modelling, DMRE energy planning specialist Sonwabo Damba said on January 31. He added that the modelling for the draft IRP 2023 did not take into account the implications of the 10% curtailment on the availability of grid connectivity in the Eastern Cape, the Northern Cape and the Western Cape.
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