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’.
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.
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.
Many of the submissions the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has received from the first round of public engagements about the draft Integrated Resource Plan 2023 (IRP 2023) in January have revealed new sources of data to consider in the plan’s modelling, DMRE energy planning specialist Sonwabo Damba said on January 31. He added that the modelling for the draft IRP 2023 did not take into account the implications of the 10% curtailment on the availability of grid connectivity in the Eastern Cape, the Northern Cape and the Western Cape.
Renewable energy company Scatec, financial services firm Standard Bank and asset management company Stanlib have established new renewable energy platform Lyra Energy to offer a low-risk, flexible commercial proposition to the private sector in South Africa. Lyra is a private power solution that offers distributed access to high-quality, affordable and predictable utility-scale renewable energy to medium-sized and large commercial and industrial players.
Eskom Distribution MD Monde Bala has signalled the utility’s willingness to consider the integration of an Electricity Credit Token (ECT) financial instrument to accelerate the implementation of a virtual wheeling model that allows multiple generators to transact with multiple customers in multiple locations. Eskom and Vodacom have, over the past year, developed and piloted a virtual wheeling platform that Eskom is currently aiming to launch before the end of 2024.
JSE-listed real estate investment trust Growthpoint Properties has entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with electricity trader Etana Energy for 195 GWh/y of renewable energy, which represents 32% of its total current yearly electricity consumption, which was 612 GWh in its 2023 financial year. The company signed the PPA in November 2023 to wheel electricity to its commercial property buildings in several jurisdictions across the country. Further, the generation profile will be relatively flat over a 24-hour period owing to it consisting mainly of wind power and a smaller hydropower generation component.
The Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO) reports that it is engaging with Eskom on its newly released curtailment addendum to the latest Generation Connection Capacity Assessment (GCCA 2025) – through the addendum 3 470 MW of additional connection capacity for wind generators has been unlocked in two grid-constrained provinces. Prior to the publication of the addendum, the GCCA 2025 indicated there to be no remaining grid capacity available in the Eastern, Northern and Western Cape provinces. But the addendum indicates that, by accepting a “reasonable share of no more than 10% of curtailment”, 2 680 MW of capacity is available in the Western Cape and 790 MW in the Eastern Cape.
The City of Cape Town’s (CoCT’s) specialist metals theft unit, the Copperheads, has recovered more then 53 km of stolen cable during the last six months of 2023. The unit says it executed 404 autonomous operations, 1 260 scrapyard inspections, 1 777 hotspot patrols and responded to 277 complaints from the public during this period.
Loadshedding will jump to Stage 3 at 16:00 Monday after a delay in the return to service of two generating units. “Over the past 24 hours, five generation units were taken offline for repairs. Additionally, the return to service of two generating units that were on planned maintenance was delayed due to an opportunity to perform preventative maintenance. These factors have contributed to the shortage of available capacity necessitating the implementation of Stage 3 loadshedding from 16:00 today until 05:00 on Tuesday,” Eskom said. “Thereafter, loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 2 until 16:00 on Tuesday. This pattern of Stage 2 loadshedding from 05:00 until 16:00 and Stage 3 loadshedding from 16:00 until 05:00 will be repeated daily until further notice.”
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