Amid delay to private grid tender, Ramokgopa indicates willingness to pay ‘premium’ to …

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Rampkgopa has indicated that South Africa should be willing to pay a premium to ensure that the multi-billion-rand expansion of the electricity grid is used to leverage industrialisation and transformation. “We must be very decisive. We are prepared to pay the price and the premium for growing the South African economy … I know industry is ready,” Ramokgopa said, during an engagement with manufacturing and construction stakeholders in Sandton on October 31.
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Release signs new solar, battery lease agreements in Liberia and Sierra Leone

Solar and battery leasing company Release, which is majority-owned by renewable energy company Scatec, has signed new lease agreements totalling 64 MW of solar power and 10 MWh of battery storage in Liberia and Sierra Leone. In Liberia, Release has entered into a 15-year lease agreement with the State-owned Liberia Electricity Corporation for the development of a 24 MW solar plant combined with a 10 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Duazon, near Monrovia.
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South African firms worry about pace of grid expansion, international firms’ involvement

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the domestic industry’s welcoming of an initiative to use private sector participation to accelerate the roll-out of grid infrastructure, as well as some of the concerns being raised about the pace of deployment and the preference that is seemingly being given to international firms.
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Facility to address energy inefficiencies

The formation of the African Energy Efficiency Facility (AEEF), a legacy project of South Africa’s G20 presidency, was announced earlier this month by Electricity and Energy Deputy Minister Samantha Graham-Maré at the opening of the G20 Energy Transitions Working Group side event. The AEEF framework has been developed by the Department of Electricity and Energy and the African Energy Commission – a specialised agency of the African Union (AU) –in collaboration with the UN Environment United for Efficiency Programme. The framework also supports a continental market shift to producing higher-efficiency lighting products and appliances.
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Constant investment maintains beneficial partnership

Having made significant investments in its distribution, engineering facilities and technical skills, industrial solutions provider BMG’s dedicated variable-speed drive (VSD) workshops in Cape Town, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal remain the approved warranty centres for renowned brands – including Danfoss, VACON and Synergy – in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. BMG’s range of Danfoss electronic, mechanical and intelligent ‘mechatronic’ devices are designed to optimise automation processes and reduce energy consumption.
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Transmission investment lacking in S Africa

South Africa’s transmission network, built for a centralised, coal-based power system, cannot carry the country into a decentralised, renewables-led future, says financial solutions provider Old Mutual Alternative Investments infrastructure debt head Rolf Canto and investment analyst Kabelo Mabaso. In a paper titled ‘Why transmission investment is the missing piece in South Africa’s energy transition’, they stress this, saying South Africa has outgrown its grid.
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Kariba’s rehabilitation lays foundation for another 50 years of hydropower delivery

After several delays since its launch in 2017, the $294-million Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP), aimed at repairing decades of erosion from high-velocity water discharge and refurbishing the dam’s spillway, is now largely complete, with remaining works due to wrap up by September next year. The project’s core components are the reshaping of the dam’s plunge pool, completed in September last year, and the refurbishment of all six sluices in the spillway, the first phase of which is now 99% complete, with finalisation expected before year-end. Phase II, which began in 2024, has progressed to the 26% completion mark, with overall works scheduled to conclude in just under a year.
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Digital asset management will become backbone of modern energy system – consultancy

In continuing a two-part series of webinars on opportunities for digitalisation in South Africa’s energy sector, expert participant Siham Salie-Abrahams, representing advisory firm HKA Global, said digital asset management (DAM) will become invaluable as the country transitions to a more integrated and modern energy system. Broadly, digitalisation is the energy transition and critical to balancing supply and demand, as well as integrating renewables. “In the race for a sustainable future, digitalisation is our greatest ally,” added South Africa-German Energy Partnership secretariat Henrik Hartmann during the October 29 webinar.
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South Africa working on environmental attribute certification for more complex electricity market

South Africa’s public and private sectors involved in environmental regulations and electricity are working to develop an energy attribute certificate (EAC) system that would enable the verification, certification, tracking and transfer of organisations’ emissions-reduction efforts. The need is two-fold. The first is that accurate accounting of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions associated with electricity supply and consumption is increasingly being required globally and in South Africa.
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Department says electrification scheme to be ‘repurposed’ to tackle R75bn backlog by 2030

The Department of Electricity and Energy has provided additional information about its proposal to repurpose the Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP) to meet the country’s 2030 universal access commitment – one that would involve electrifying some 1.6-million households at an estimated cost of R75-billion. The grant-based INEP scheme was launched in 2001/2 and Eskom and municipalities have used the R110-billion allocated to the programme over the decades to electrify some 8.4-million households and increase the country’s electrification rate to over 94%.
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