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B4SA launches independent fund for corporates to support Energy Action Plan

Business body Business for South Africa (B4SA), together with the Presidency, on March 9 announced the establishment of a Resource Mobilisation Fund (RMF) to help capacitate the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom).

Necom aims to reduce the severity and frequency of loadshedding in the short term, as well as achieve a secure and sustainable supply of energy in South Africa in the long term.

RMF chairperson and B4SA chairperson Martin Kingston explains that various individuals and private sector organisations have pledged their support to the President’s Energy Action Plan (EAP) announced in July last year, and came together to establish the RMF as a mechanism for business in South Africa to support the implementation of the plan.

March 10, 2023 by

DTIC calls for public comments on block exemptions for energy suppliers, users

Following the declaration of a National State of Disaster to address the energy crisis, Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel on March 8 published draft exemptions from certain parts of competition laws, to enable companies to collaborate on energy matters. Patel has, in terms of Section 10(10) of the Competition Act, gazetted a notice calling for the public to comment on the draft block exemptions for energy suppliers and users.
March 10, 2023 by

Electricity minister says it’s ‘highly irresponsible’ to predict when loadshedding will end

Newly appointed Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa believes government will be ambitious in its plans to stop loadshedding, but he is not yet ready to say when that is expected to happen. “Loadshedding, and I want to emphasise [this] on national TV we are going to resolve it… [but] it is highly irresponsible to just shoot from the hip and say this date, that date,” Ramokgopa said in an interview with the SABC on Thursday evening.
March 10, 2023 by

Company’s new furnaces under scrutiny

Luxemburg-based ArcelorMittal’s path to net zero emissions has come under scrutiny as it starts the construction of a new coal-based blast furnace in India which contrasts with low-carbon steelmaking in Europe and Canada. In a report released last month it was suggested that ArcelorMittal should prepare for difficult questions in its upcoming annual general meeting in May about how the company intends to reach net zero by 2050, as the company builds this new coal-powered blast furnaces in a joint venture with metal producer Nippon Steel of Japan (AM/NS India). 
March 10, 2023 by

How battery storage can help SA navigate its grid and loadshedding challenges

Amid the current energy crisis, declared to be a state of disaster during last month’s State of the Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa, battery energy storage systems (BESS) could potentially provide some near-term relief in areas of grid constraint, while also allowing households some protection against loadshedding. The ‘Understanding Energy Storage’ handbook – released last year by the African Legal Support Facility in partnership with the Commercial Law Development Program and Power Africa – outlines the implications of implementing BESS as an alternative to traditional power solutions.
March 10, 2023 by

Public Enterprises Ministry to ‘cease to exist’ on formation of SOE holding company

President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed that the position of Public Enterprises Minister and the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) will “cease to exist” once a new holding company for strategic State-owned enterprises (SOEs) has been created. Appearing in Parliament to reply to questions posed by members of the National Assembly on Thursday, Ramaphosa said that government intended adopting the recommendation of the Presidential SOE Council that a State-owned holding company be established to house strategic SOEs and to exercise coordinated shareholder oversight.
March 9, 2023 by

Successful first close for third energy transition Evolution impact fund

African private equity firm Inspired Evolution successfully achieved the first closing of its third energy transition, net-zero climate impact Evolution fund on March 3. Evolution III closed at $199.4-million in conditional commitments from seven international investors, allowing a further 12- to 18-month window to reach its target close of $400-million in capital commitments, the company says.
March 9, 2023 by

Increase in solar panel recycling needed to avoid a future environmental hazard

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels could result in an environmental hazard in 30 years’ time, as only 10% of the most widely used panel types are recycled in the US, while this data is unknown in South Africa, Stellenbosch Business School Institute for Futures Research (IFR) research assistant Francois Pretorius says. South Africa imported more than R2.2-billion worth of solar panels during the first half of 2022 and the pace of imports is set to increase dramatically as the country’s energy crisis mounts.
March 9, 2023 by