Technology group Cassava Technologies subsidiary Africa Data Centres (ADC) has broken ground on the construction of a solar farm in the Free State in collaboration with solar power company Distributed Power Africa (DPA) Southern Africa. The first phase will entail the construction of a 12 MW solar plant to power ADC’s CPT1 carrier-neutral data centre in Cape Town, with subsequent phases extending to the company’s two Johannesburg data centres.
Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy has granted Sasol South Africa permission to employ a load-based limit to regulate the sulphur dioxide (SO2) of its Secunda boilers in a decision upholding the JSE-listed group’s appeal of an earlier National Air Quality Officer (NAQO) determination stipulating the use of a concentration-based limit. Sasol lodged an appeal on July 31, 2023, after NAQO published a determination on July 11, 2023, stating that it was not empowered to grant permission to Sasol to apply an alternative limit for SO2 after a once-off postponement had already been granted to the Secunda operations.
South Africa’s State power utility, stung by reports about the health impacts of emissions from burning coal, said it’s spending billions of dollars to reduce them and has an ambitious target to reduce output of one of its most dangerous pollutants. Eskom Holdings said it’s committed to a R67-billion plan to cut emissions and by 2035 aims to reduce its output of particulate matter by 70%.