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Emergency plan to tackle South Africa’s energy crisis remains work in progress

President Cyril Ramaphosa promised in late July to implement emergency measures within three months to tackle record blackouts. But those have only been partially implemented and outages continue. Ramaphosa plans to deal with energy-related issues when he addresses parliament in Cape Town on Thursday, his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said. He declined to comment on the specifics.

Commission refers competition complaint against Vita Gas to the tribunal

The Competition Commission has referred to the Competition Tribunal a complaint against Vita Gas for the alleged abuse of market dominance in the supply of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) from import terminals in the Western Cape.

The commission found that Vita Gas allegedly contravened the Competition Act and exploited its market dominance by entering into an exclusive agreement with the only LPG terminal in the Western Cape – the Saldanha Bay-based Sunrise Energy import and distribution facility.

Solar provider gets RMB Corvest’s backing as a strategic partner

Private equity firm RMB Corvest has invested in Sedgeley Solar Energy Namibia (Sedgeley Energy) as a strategic partner to enable Sedgley Solar to capitalise further on rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) opportunities.
 
Independent investment banking firm Bravura, which was appointed by Sedgeley Energy, identified private equity fund RMB Corvest as a strongly-aligned investment partner. 

Developing country carbon emissions clemency not applicable to South Africa – Nicholls

South Africa cannot be allowed to breach its climate change mitigation measures and Paris Agreement declarations despite it being an emerging country that is dependant and still heavily reliant on fossil fuels, South African Presidential Climate Commission mitigation head Steve Nicholls told delegates at last week’s ESG Africa Conference.

Many African countries have, of late, requested lenience in meeting climate change mitigation commitments, requesting also a delay in their abandonment of cheap and easy-to-obtain fossil fuels as a result of their delayed and inhibited industrial and social development.

Approval given for the construction of Egypt’s second nuclear reactor

Approval, in principle, for the construction of the second nuclear reactor (‘unit 2’) of Egypt’s El Dabaa nuclear power plant (NPP), has been granted by the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA), World Nuclear News reported on Tuesday. The decision was made on Monday, but the formal issuing of the licence would only take place on November 19, which is Nuclear Energy Day in the North African country. “This important event confirms Egypt’s insistence and its progress under the auspices of the country’s political leadership in achieving the long-awaited dream of producing clean electricity from nuclear plants, committed to the highest standards of nuclear safety and security in construction and operation,” stated the country’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority.