Energy Council welcomes IRP extension, calls for strong reform message in SoNA

Energy Council CEO James Mackay has welcomed the decision of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to extend the comment period for the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2023 by a month and has also called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to use his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) emphasise government’s commitment to “open and robust debate on national energy policy”. Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe used his Mining Indaba address on February 6 to announce that the IRP comment period had been extended to March 23 from February 23 to “allow maximum participation in this process”. However, he refrained from initiating public hearings, which some commentators have called for given serious concerns over the assumptions and modelling used to produce the draft document.
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SAPVIA CEO appointed to Global Solar Council

South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) CEO Dr Rethabile Melamu has been appointed as a board member of the international solar power industry organisation Global Solar Council. She will serve a two-year term of office with the council.
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Clear commitment to reform implementation needed in SoNA – Mavuso

Business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to show a clear commitment to the hard work of reform implementation during his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on Thursday evening. South Africa’s electricity crisis remains a significant constraint, despite some progress having been made, and its logistics system has rapidly become a disaster for the economy, requiring urgent intervention, Mavuso said in her latest weekly newsletter on February 5.
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World Bank tours Cape Town’s Steenbras power plant, to augment support

City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Energy councillor Beverley van Reenen has hosted a World Bank delegation to the city’s Steenbras hydro pumped storage scheme. The Steenbras plant is used to protect city-supplied customers from up to two stages of loadshedding, where possible, and is also indicated to be pivotal to the city’s plans to protect residents from up to four stages of loadshedding by 2026.
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Energy community must scrutinise IRP 2023 – SAWEA

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) is urging the energy community to critically analyse the revised draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023 (IRP 2023) to provide constructive inputs that will improve the country’s energy future. SAWEA says it appreciates the information sessions hosted by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) to delve deeper into the plan and its underlying assumptions, which have provided much-needed context and additional information, ensuring a common understanding across various interpretations.
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Nersa formally publishes licences for new grid company

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has officially published on its website the three licences required for the operationalisation of the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), having approved their transfer from Eskom to the NTCSA last year. The NTCSA is in the process of being established as an independent subsidiary of Eskom Holdings as part of a far-reaching restructuring process initiated in 2019 to unbundle the vertically integrated utility into three independent businesses of transmission, distribution and generation.
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Mozambique seeks to end 50-year hydropower pact with South Africa

Mozambique plans to end half a century of hydropower supply to South Africa’s State-owned electricity utility, raising risks for the continent’s most industrialized economy and threatening the viability of Africa’s second-biggest aluminum smelter. In the country’s yet-to-be published energy transition strategy, a copy of which Bloomberg has seen, Mozambique details the plan to secure the 1,150 megawatts of power it sells to South Africa from its Cahora Bassa plant for its own use.
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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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