Author Archive for: Engineering News

The Independent Power Producer (IPP) Office has confirmed it will soon launch a bid window round for 513 MW of battery storage capacity and hopes to procure another 1 200 MW later this year. IPP Office head Bernard Magoro confirmed during a webinar hosted by Creamer Media and titled ‘South Africa’s Energy Outlook for 2023’, that the country could see a total 1 700 MW of battery storage procured in 2023.

The portfolio committees on Public Enterprises, and Mineral Resources and Energy and the Select Committee on Public Enterprises and Communication will, on Thursday and Friday, meet various Eskom stakeholders to assess efforts to resolve the crippling energy crisis facing the country. Eskom announced earlier this week that 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.   The committees felt that constant loadshedding was adverse impacting the country and exacerbating its socioeconomic challenges. The meeting will address the security of electricity supply, the operational state of all power stations and governance at Eskom. Solutions to the current loadshedding, as well as alleged sabotage and theft at power stations, will also be addressed at the meeting.

Airforce Base Makhado, in Limpopo, now has solar geysers designed to reduce the damage of  limescale build-up and the amount of electricity used to heat water in domestic housing. Piloted as one of the projects implemented through a five-year partnership between the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) and the military, this installation is part of ongoing research to ensure sustainable energy, as well as quantify energy, cost and emissions savings through energy efficient and renewable energy interventions.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued its so-called ‘Final Rule’ for the NuScale Power (NuScale) small modular nuclear reactor (SMR), completing the certification process for design. This made the NuScale SMR the first reactor in its category to be certified by the NRC. Although termed a ‘rule’, the NRC determination was actually a document some 55 A4 pages in length. This meant that, when the company applied for a licence to build and operate an NPP employing its SMR, the design of the SMR itself would not be an issue. NuScale would only need to meet the licensing requirements for the specific site chosen for the NPP.

Those “aggrieved” by the upcoming 18.65% electricity tariff hike will have to lodge a court application to challenge the energy regulator’s decision, power utility Eskom has said. This comes days after President Cyril Ramaphosa told delegates at the African National Congress Free State provincial conference that he asked the power utility to halt the tariff hike amid ongoing loadshedding. The tariff is set to kick in April. skom indicated that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa is the only authority in the country that can set the price that consumers can be charged for electricity. Nersa also follows an “exhaustive” public participation process to get input from different stakeholders and considers the costs that Eskom will incur before deciding on the final outcome. “If Eskom does not recover from the consumer, then the burden on the taxpayer increases. Thus efficient costs will need to be recovered – they do not just disappear,” the power utility said.