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130 MW power plant in Senegal fully commissioned

Energy sector solutions provider Wärtsilä reports that a 130 MW power plant it built in Malicounda, in western Senegal, is now fully operational and officially inaugurated by Senegal President Macky Sall.

The Flexicycle power plant is operated by energy company Matelec, which also undertook the engineering, procurement and construction of the plant; which will be maintained by Wärtsilä under a ten-year maintenance agreement.

March 13, 2023 by

Progress being made in reforming South African electricity sector, assures Presidency official

Major changes were indeed under way in the country’s electricity sector, South African Presidency project management head Rudi Dicks assured the RES4Africa Energy Security Conference in Cape Town, on Monday. “There is a risk that we miss the [reform] wood for the [crisis] trees,” he said. South Africa has suffered for years from scheduled power cuts, called loadshedding, imposed by the State-owned national electricity utility Eskom, because of its lack of generating capacity. “Loadshedding is the result of poor policy decisions or actions not taken,” he explained.
March 13, 2023 by

NUM backs Mantashe on pro-coal stance

Labour union the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has expressed its support for Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe’s pro-coal stance, alleging “coercion” efforts to move away from the carbon-intensive fuel are driven by an “anti-fossil fuel agenda”.

As he has done on numerous occasions, Mantashe reaffirmed his strong pro-coal convictions most recently at the Africa Energy Indaba, held in Cape Town, on March 7.

March 10, 2023 by

Renewable energy presents solutions to South Africa’s energy crisis, Scatec says

South Africa’s energy crisis has considerably impacted the country’s economy, with loadshedding affecting food security, infrastructure and communication networks, as well as various key economic sectors, like mining, tourism and manufacturing. Clean energy company Scatec sub-Saharan Africa executive VP Jan Fourie has described the conundrum as not just an energy crisis, but a fossil fuel dependency crisis.
March 10, 2023 by

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