President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the much-anticipated Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Act, which lays the legislative foundations for the establishment of a fully independent Transmission System Operator (TSO) in the coming five years. The ERA Bill was approved by lawmakers ahead of the May 29 elections and the President’s assent on August 16 has come amid some concern about the constitutionality of provisions that could affect the authority that municipalities currently have over electricity distribution.
Grid- and energy-optimisation software company Open Access Energy (OAE) has secured a $750 000 investment from technology innovations venture capital firm Factor E Ventures. The funding marks the initial tranche of a $1.5-million seed round for OAE, which is developing software solutions to address South Africa’s energy challenges.
Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has withdrawn a Ministerial determination for the procurement of 2 500 MW of new nuclear capacity, which was being contested legally, having concluded that there was insufficient public consultation prior to the regulator providing its concurrence with the determination. The withdrawal comes ahead of a scheduled court case initiated by the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) and Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, which are contesting the legality of the gazetted Section 34 determination signed by Ramokgopa.
Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses some of the key outcomes of the first meeting between Cabinet member and business leaders since the formation of the Government of National Unity.
Hydrogen and fuel cells solutions Center of Competence (CoC) HySA Infrastructure, at North-West University (NWU) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, is making a concerted effort to help South Africa and Africa transition towards a green economy by championing developments in water electrolysis for hydrogen production and storage, in addition to exploring the use of ammonium as a carrier for green hydrogen, particularly for long-distance transportation and storage. HySA Infrastructure CoC director Professor Dmitri Bessarabov highlights the importance of HySA’s most recent hydrogen and ammonium production projects, under the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), aimed at facilitating hydrogen and ammonium production, storage and transport initiatives.
The inaugural Global African Hydrogen Summit, which will take place in Windhoek, Namibia from September 3 to 5, will supplement ongoing efforts to address the lack of access to electricity for more than 600-million people across Africa. The event is endorsed by the Ministry of Mines and Energy Namibia and patronaged by the Namibia government, and at the heart of the Global African Hydrogen Summit is its mission to drive critical investments and financing into bankable green energy projects across Africa.
Mauritania is positioning itself to capture up to 1.5% of the global green hydrogen market by 2050, and has large-scale projects in progress that are aimed at producing 12.5-million tonnes of green hydrogen each year by 2035. Last year, business management consultant Conjuncta, in partnership with renewable-energy producer Infinity Power, signed an agreement with Mauritania’s Ministry of Petroleum, Mines and Energy to produce up to 8-million tonnes of green hydrogen a year for international markets.
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