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KITE 2023 promises to be ‘bigger and better’

The KwaZulu-Natal Industrial Technology Exhibition, also known as KITE, will be held at the Durban Exhibition Centre from July 18 to 20 for the fortieth consecutive year.  Attendance numbers are expected to exceed those of last year, at 2 716, even though the 2022 event was the first in-person trade show to be hosted following the Covid-19 lockdowns. 
July 7, 2023 by

Mining, refining, smelting investment of up to $4tr by 2030 needed to support net-zero shift …

As the world accelerates the deployment of climate technologies in support of the net-zero transition, there is a risk that materials supply might not scale at the required speed, a new McKinsey & Company report warns. To meet demand for minerals and metals used in battery electric vehicles (BEVs), wind turbines, solar panels and electrolysers, the report states that mining project development would need to far exceed historical growth rates, while the pace of exploration would also have to accelerate.
July 6, 2023 by

Eskom’s approved plan to bypass pollution rules hit by appeal

Environmental activists have appealed against a South African government decision to allow Eskom Holdings to bypass equipment used to reduce sulphur dioxide pollution while it repairs one of its biggest coal-fired power plants. The appeal has been filed to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment by groundWork and the Vukani Environmental Justice Movement in Action, according to court documents distributed by the Centre for Environmental Rights, the lawyers representing the groups, on Thursday.
July 6, 2023 by

Grid storage uptake in South Africa lacks ‘direction or momentum’

A new report published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) highlights that grid storage has yet to gain “direction or momentum” in South Africa, despite a growing recognition of the role that both utility scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) and other storage technologies can play in providing electricity services besides that of complementing renewables. Titled ‘Watts in Store’, the report distinguishes between grid or front-of-the-meter storage and consumer storage, with behind-the-meter energy storage having expanded significantly as firms and households have sought to protect themselves from intensifying loadshedding. Industry estimates quoted in the report indicate that, by 2022, yearly residential storage deployments alone had jumped to about 2 GWh.
July 5, 2023 by

UN seeks to help developing countries access more funds for renewables investment

The world’s least developed countries rely on external sources for almost three-quarters of their energy investment but may pay up to seven times more than developed countries to access international capital markets, which is a major impediment to ramping up investments in renewables, United Nations secretary-general António Guterres says.  With the release of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (Unctad’s) ‘World Investment Report 2023’, on July 5, he has called for a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) stimulus, among other things, to increase long-term and affordable financing for developing countries “to enable them to invest at scale in the transition to renewable energy”.  
July 5, 2023 by

Updated loadshedding code includes up to 16 stages to reduce grid-collapse risk

A new and updated edition of the loadshedding code of practice, which includes up to 16 stages of loadshedding, has been finalised by and expert group and delivered to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for approval. The current NRS 048-9 edition, known as Edition 2, has protocols governing up to eight stages of loadshedding, which would involve rotational cuts of up to 16 hours in a 32-hour cycle. Edition 3 has increased the number of stages to 16, with the highest stage involving 24 hours of loadshedding in a 32-hour cycle.
July 4, 2023 by