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South Africa inquires about rapid deployment of powerships

South Africa made fresh inquiries about securing electricity supply from Turkey’s Karpowership as it battles its worst ever power outages, according to people familiar with the situation. The approach follows a stalled attempt to procure 1 220 MW of emergency power from the company, a process that’s been mired in legal battles. Karpowership could deploy its plants, which produce electricity from ship-mounted generators, to supply between 700 MW and 800 MW within three months, the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks are private.
January 23, 2023 by

Stage 4 evening loadshedding until further notice

Loadshedding will remain at Stage 4 from 16:00 to 05:00 every day, with Stage 3 implemented from 05:00 to 16:00 during the day until further notice, Eskom announced on Monday. Over the past 24 hours, two generating units at Tutuka Power Station were taken offline for repairs while two units at the Arnot Power were returned to service. Planned maintenance removed 6 018MW from the system, while breakdowns currently amount to 15 797MW of generating capacity.
January 23, 2023 by

Stage 4 loadshedding planned for the weekday evenings 

Loadshedding will remain at Stage 4 from 16:00 to 05:00 every day, with Stage 3 implemented from 05:00 to 16:00 during the day until further notice, Eskom announced on Monday. Over the past 24 hours, two generating units at Tutuka Power Station were taken offline for repairs while two units at the Arnot Power were returned to service.
January 23, 2023 by

Agbiz calls for less loadshedding in areas under irrigation

Business organisation the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) has urged for less loadshedding in areas under irrigation and food-processing facilities. In crucial field crops, roughly 20% of maize, 15% of soybean, 34% of sugarcane and nearly half of the wheat production are produced under irrigation and these face severe challenges owing to persistently hot and dry conditions, coupled with constrained ability to irrigate. Fruits and vegetables also heavily rely on irrigation, and thus face similar challenges.
January 23, 2023 by

Ramaphosa doubles down on Energy Action Plan, but says loadshedding can’t be stopped overnight

President Cyril Ramaphosa has indicated that there is no intention of overhauling the Energy Action Plan he unveiled in July last year, even while acknowledging that “many of the measures in the plan will not be felt in the immediate term” and that loadshedding will, thus, continue. Writing in his weekly newsletter following a week of consultative meetings on the electricity crisis with various social partners and the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM), which he chairs, the President said he had used the meetings to underline “the importance of staying the course, instead of coming up with unsustainable short-term solutions”.
January 23, 2023 by

Eskom to apply for enviro exemption to allow for earlier restart of Kusile units

Eskom will approach the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) for an exemption to allow it to temporarily bypass the flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) units at the Kusile power station in an effort to reintroduce 2 160 MW of production, months earlier than would be the case absent such an exemption. Kusile Units 1, 2 and 3 have been out of service since October 23 after the flue duct at Unit 1 failed as a result of the duct bend collapsing, owing to excessive weight of slurry deposited in the flue.
January 22, 2023 by

UAE clean energy firm commits to renewables in Zambia, Angola, Uganda

United Arab Emirates (UAE) clean energy company Masdar has signed agreements with the energy Ministries of Angola, Uganda and Zambia to develop renewable energy projects totalling 5 GW.

The agreements were signed under the umbrella of the Etihad 7 initiative, which was launched by the UAE last year. The initiative is aimed at building 20 GW of renewable energy capacity on the continent and with it supply 100-million people across the continent with clean electricity.

January 20, 2023 by

Data centres can use renewable energy to reduce their carbon-intensity

Data centre operators that buy large amounts of electricity can make huge strides in carbon reduction by embracing renewable energy across their operations and, as they invest in renewable energy procurement for their facilities, they can pass on these benefits to their customers and thus start the development of a clean energy ecosystem, says information management and storage services company Iron Mountain. Encouragingly, customers of corporate colocation data centres are increasingly seeking more sustainable energy supplies, which thanks to recent progress they will be able to access more and more, the company adds.
January 20, 2023 by