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Fast-growing ENGIE South Africa will consider grid investments under right conditions

Global independent power company ENGIE, which is prioritising the South African electricity market for significant organic and acquisitive growth, is also open to participating in grid investments should government move to open the market to private sector participation. ENGIE South Africa CEO Mohamed Hoosen tells Engineering News that the bigger group already has significant transmission grid assets globally and has also participated in build, own, operate and transfer projects.
January 16, 2024 by

Busy week for DMRE as it hosts IPP bidders conferences and IRP workshop

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and the Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO) have a busy week ahead, with three virtual bidders conferences to be hosted over Wednesday and Thursday, and with the department also schedule to host a public workshop on the draft 2023 edition of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2023). The bidders conferences follow the release, on December 14, of three new requests for proposals (RFPs) for the public procurement of 7 615 MW of new generation capacity from wind, solar photovoltaic (PV), gas to power and battery energy storage technologies.
January 15, 2024 by

Proposed new IRP met with some skepticism

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the background to the publication for public comment of the latest Integrated Resource Plan (IRP); the main changes in the IRP 2023, compared with the IRP 2019; the initial reaction to the new IRP; and the public commentary process.
January 12, 2024 by

World powers ahead with renewables as South Africa’s draft plan signals pullback

While South Africa’s draft electricity plan is signalling a pullback in renewables investments for the period to 2030 relative to the prevailing policy, the rest of the world is powering ahead, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) reporting that 50% more renewables capacity was installed globally in 2023 than in 2022 and with record-breaking growth forecast for the coming five years. In its ‘Renewables 2023’ report, the IEA states that 507 GW of renewable-energy capacity was installed last year increasing the installed base to about 3 600 MW, with solar photovoltaic (PV) accounting for three-quarters of worldwide additions.
January 11, 2024 by

Preferred bidder selected to build and operate Richards Bay LNG terminal

South Africa’s State-owned Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has announced that it has selected a public-private consortium as the preferred bidder to develop and operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Port of Richards Bay’s South Dunes precinct.  The Vopak & TPL Consortium Venture was selected following a bidding process for an entity to design, develop, construct, finance, operate, and maintain the LNG terminal for a period of 25 years.
January 10, 2024 by

No plan yet for public hearings into gas-heavy draft IRP 2023

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has belatedly released the background technical information that has been used to inform the assumptions included in the draft Integrated Resource Plan of 2023 (IRP 2023) and will host two virtual workshops this month to provide greater insight into the plan. However, no formal public hearings are scheduled either ahead of or after the February 23 deadline for the submission of written comments, despite serious and growing concern over the plan’s assumptions and outcomes.
January 10, 2024 by

Sasol’s Mabelane to head board at Eskom’s unbundled grid company, NTCSA

The inaugural board of directors of the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA), which was announced by the Eskom board on Tuesday, will be chaired by Priscillah Mabelane, who is also the executive VP of Sasol’s energy business. The long-awaited appointment represents as significant milestone in the legal separation of Eskom into three separate entities of generation, distribution and transmission, as outlined in the Department of Public Enterprises’ 2019 ‘Roadmap for Eskom in a reformed electricity supply industry’.
January 9, 2024 by

Ramokgopa seeks to unlock private finance for 6 000 km of new grid in coming three years

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the current plan for rolling out grid infrastructure, particularly in the coming three years, is insufficient to end loadshedding and should, thus, be accelerated with the support of private investment, as well as funding from the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP). In his inaugural briefing for 2024, Ramokgopa highlighted that, following a recent memorandum of understanding clarifying his powers relative to those of Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gorhan, he had been given responsibility for ensuring that transmission-related constraints were addressed.
January 9, 2024 by