Clean energy developer Blue Energy Africa has built a hybrid 435 kW solar and battery storage system for planting bags producer Naboom Plastic, in Mookgophong, Limpopo. The system provides the producer with energy security and operational resilience, as well as saving 80% to 90% on its previous electricity use from the grid. The implementation of the system has allowed Naboom Plastic to start clearing a 60 t production backlog caused by loadshedding. It also benefits the livelihoods of the company’s 64 employees and their families.
The City of Cape Town is nearing the successful completion of an electricity meter upgrade programme across the city ahead of the December deadline, when the current prepaid electricity metering software for all prepaid meters will expire.
All municipalities across the country have been mandated to undertake prepaid electricity meter software upgrades by December or customers will be unable to recharge their units through their meters.
South Africa is risking a $9.3-billion climate finance pact by delaying the closing of a number of coal-fired power plants, a panel appointed by the country’s environment minister said. In an agreement known as the Just Energy Transition Partnership, South Africa won the bulk of the pledges from some of the world’s richest nations in loans, grants and guarantees in 2021. They offered to help the country reduce its dependence on coal for power generation on condition it phased out a number of its older plants using the dirtiest fuel.
Eskom reports that it has appointed five transformer companies to a panel of suppliers that will compete for upcoming contracts for a total of 101 large-scale transformers that will be installed over the coming four years as part of its Transmission Development Plan (TDP). The suppliers were not immediately named in the statement, with Eskom saying only that most of the five suppliers were “local with an international footprint” and had been selected following an open tender issued on March 14.
In response to a recent Johannesburg High Court order favouring State-owned utility Eskom in a payment dispute with the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and City Power, the CoJ and City Power say the court did not fully consider critical aspects of the evidence. “While we accept and respect the court’s decision, the city reserve[s] the right to appeal the ruling,” the CoJ and City Power said in a June 21 media statement.
Having secured permission to operate five aged power stations under existing minimum emission standards (MES) plant limits until their closure in 2030, Eskom has confirmed that it will be applying for exemption from the MES timeframes and limits for four stations that will remain operational post-2030. On May 23, the State-owned utility received confirmation from then Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy that it could continue to operate Hendrina, Grootvlei, Arnot, Camden and Kriel at existing MES plant limits until March 31, 2030.
Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the City of Tshwane’s plans to procure 1 000 MW of new electricity generation capacity and how it is likely to proceed with the procurement processes for that capacity.
South Africa’s State power utility and biggest source of air pollution won an appeal to keep five of its oldest plants open even though they are set to flout incoming emission caps. The plants – which account for almost a quarter of Eskom Holdings’ almost 45 GW of coal-fired generation capacity – will be allowed to operate under current emission limits until the end of March 2030, Barbara Creecy, South Africa’s environment minister, ruled. That will exempt them from more stringent restrictions on pollutants, ranging from particulate emissions to sulfur dioxide, that come into effect in 2025.
The City of Tshwane is signalling its intention to proceed with plans to procure and/or revive 1 000 MW of electricity generation capacity by 2026 as part of a strategy aimed at improving security of supply and reducing its dependency on Eskom. Executive Mayor Cilliers Brink told delegates attending the inaugural Tshwane Energy Summit that the city was seeking to find a way to partner with independent power producers (IPPs), as it was not in a financial position to pursue generation projects on its own.
The majority of electric utilities in developing countries are ill-equipped to meet growing demand for power and add more renewable energy into the grid, thereby hindering global energy transition goals to provide clean, reliable and affordable electricity to all, development cooperation organisation the World Bank reports. ‘The Critical Link: Empowering Utilities for the Energy Transition’ report, published this week, showed that only 40% of developing country utilities are able to cover their operating and debt service costs.
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