Cape Town Market goes green with battery, demand management system

The Cape Town Market in Epping has started the commissioning of a battery energy storage and demand management system (DMS).  The commissioning of the 3 MWh system follows the installation of more than 3 000 solar panels with a 1.4 MWh output.
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Lecturer proposes e-bikes as a solution to rapid urbanisation, decarbonisation in cities

With traditional public mass transportation changing and more mobility alternatives arising, University of Johannesburg researcher and lecturer Mpho Gololo has suggested electric bicycles, or e-bikes, as a viable solution for certain use cases.

In a paper presented at the Southern African Transport Conference, on July 10, he said there was a great need to lower the carbon footprint of transportation in the country, which may be achieved by combining multiple modes of mobility and the electrification of transport.

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Mainstream hires Rothschild to seek investors

Mainstream Renewable Power has hired Rothschild & Co to find an investor for its pipeline of South African renewable energy projects, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Japan’s Mitsui & Co.-backed group, with about 12 gigawatts of solar and wind projects in development in the most industrialized nation on the continent, seeks a joint venture partner for its South African business, said the people, who asked not be be identified as the information is still private. The size of the stake has yet to be determined, one of the people said.
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SPS acquires two solar projects in the Western Cape, enters into a PPA

Sustainable Power Solutions (SPS) has acquired two 5 MW solar projects in Malmesbury, in the Western Cape, through the purchase of the shareholding in Slimsun Too. SPS is a developer and owner of solar PV and battery storage projects.
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US lends $99m to Mozambique’s first wind-power project

The US International Development Finance Corp (DFC) approved a loan of as much as $99-million to help finance Mozambique’s first utility-scale wind-power project. DFC will also provide $80-million in political risk insurance to Globeleq Africa, which is developing the 120 MW project near Namaacha in the south of the nation, the lender said in an emailed statement Tuesday. The project will require a total of about $268-million in funding, according to the DFC’s website.
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Macquarie-backed African renewables investor seeks fresh funds

Revego Fund Managers, which runs Africa’s first fund focused on primarily investing in operating renewable-energy assets, is seeking new investors as it works toward an eventual listing. The fund manager wants to raise about R3-billion to invest in projects to add to the R2-billion Revego Africa Energy Fund, a so-called yieldco focused on dividend flows, chief investment officer Ziyaad Sarang said. It will consider listing when it has about $500-million of assets under management and currently has a pipeline of about R10-billion in potential investments, he said.
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Eskom employee, service provider face fraud charges in court

An employee of State-owned Eskom and a service provider to the utility last week appeared in the Hendrina Magistrate Court, in Mpumalanga, on charges of fraud, with each granted bail of R30 000. It is alleged that, between January and April last year, the service provider supplied five valve stems – stolen from the Hendrina power station’s warehouse with the assistance of the Eskom employee – to the power station.
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Eskom implements load reduction in seven provinces, but loadshedding remains suspended

With continued cold winter weather, increasing electricity theft and the indiscriminate use of electricity, the issue of network overloading has resurfaced in seven of South Africa’s provinces, State-owned power utility Eskom advises.

The utility will, therefore, implement load reduction in Limpopo, the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and KwaZulu-Natal.

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Ramokgopa warns of distribution challenges, plans more renewables rounds

Despite Eskom having made progress on improving the country’s energy availability factor (EAF), lowering the unplanned capacity loss factor (UCLF) and achieving 100 consecutive days without loadshedding on July 5, the country is facing a new kind of energy crisis, Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has said.

In his first briefing for the now standalone ministry on July 8, the Minister warned that municipalities were investing too little on infrastructure maintenance and modernisation, with some having mismanagement issues, resulting in costly issues on the distribution side.

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Separation of energy portfolio welcomed

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to separate the energy portfolio from that of mineral and petroleum resources; what the priorities are for the new leadership of the energy portfolio; and the potential risks facing the new Ministry.  
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