TNPA moves ahead with R60m seawater desalination project at Port of East London

South Africa’s State-owned Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has awarded a R60-million contract for the construction of a water desalination plant at the Port of East London, the country’s only river port. The contract has been awarded to a JV comprising Norland Civil Engineers and Contractors and Impact Water Solutions, trading as Sun Water East London, which will construct and operate the solar-powered facility over a seven-year period.
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South Africa coal-plant closure delays risk thousands of deaths

Delays to the planned closures of coal-fired power plants proposed by South Africa’s energy department could result in thousands of deaths from air pollution and lead to billions of dollars of health-related costs, an air-quality research agency said. The projection about the health impacts of the delays, which the energy department says are necessary to guarantee the country’s energy security, add to criticism of South Africa’s draft blueprint for power supply through 2050.
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Autocast to benefit from renewables deal with Etana Energy

Cast and machined components supplier Autocast South Africa is the first of more than 30 of Nelson Mandela Bay’s largest electricity users to benefit from a renewable power supply deal with electricity trading company Etana Energy. “This was borne out of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s (NMBBC) Renewable Energy Cluster, which brought together some of the highest energy users in the Bay around two years ago to find a common solution for procuring clean power. After going through a rigorous selection process, Etana Energy was selected as the preferred renewable electricity supplier.
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BLSA calls for immediate reworking of IRP, describing assumptions as ‘spurious’

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), whose members include the largest domestic and foreign companies operating in South Africa, has added its voice to a growing chorus of opposition to the draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023 (IRP 2023) and has called for it to be “revised immediately”. Writing in her weekly newsletter, CEO Busisiwe Mavuso said no good case had been built for the assumptions in the IRP 2023 and warned that the document was “tainting” the positive news associated with reduced levels of loadshedding, which she attributed to the Energy Action Plan and the collaboration between government and business.
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Third battery storage programme seeks bids for five Free State sites

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has launched South Africa’s third public procurement round for utility-scale batteries, while also extending the bid submission deadline for Bid Window Two (BW2) of the Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (BESIPPPP) launched in December, and naming a fifth preferred bidder from BW 1. In a statement, the department said the BESIPPPP BW3 request for proposals was seeking bidders for 616 MW/2 464 MWh of battery projects by July 31 for five pre-selected substation sites.
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China could drive Africa’s renewable energy revolution, report says

China has a unique opportunity to drive forward an energy revolution in Africa, but it must first reverse nearly two decades of neglect of green power investments there, research from Boston University showed on Tuesday. Beijing has emerged as the continent’s biggest bilateral trading partner since the start of the century and has financed billions of dollars worth of large-scale infrastructure projects.
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Eskom to implement Nersa-approved electricity price increase from April 1

Power utility Eskom has confirmed that it will implement electricity price increases, as approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), from April 1. The utility in October 2023 applied to Nersa for the approval of its Retail Tariff and Structural Adjustment Application and the schedule of tariffs for the period from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.
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Cape Town tables R76.4bn budget; infrastructure spending at R12.1bn

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has tabled a R76.4-billion draft budget for the city for the 2024/25 financial year. The budget proposes record infrastructure investment of R12.1-billion for the year, and nearly R40-billion over the next three years.
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Release of Gas Master Plan approved at Cabinet’s last official meeting ahead of May poll

Cabinet approved the publication of the long-awaited Gas Master Plan for public comment during what was the last formal meeting of the executive ahead of the May 29 election. However, Minister in The Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni indicated that special Cabinet meetings could still be convened should the need arise. The master plan, Ntshavheni said, was supportive of government’s commitment to diversifying the country’s energy mix away from coal-fired power plants.
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Record yet uneven renewables growth recorded in 2023, Irena report shows

Despite record renewable-energy installations of 473 GW last year, the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) says the pace of deployment remains well below that needed to match the global goal of tripling capacity by 2030. In addition, the geographic distribution of new investment was highly uneven, with Africa lagging in particular. The ‘Renewable Capacity Statistics 2024’ report states that the installed renewables base climbed 13.9% to 3 870 GW in 2023, underpinned by solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, which surged by 32.2%, or 346 GW.
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