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Industry reacts to the good and the bad of SoNA 2023

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SoNA) was delivered amid severe crises across critical economic and social spheres in South Africa, with industry respondents recognising both the good and the bad ideas contained in government’s plans.

Business Unity South Africa (Busa), firstly, expressed concern about the President likening the Covid-19 crisis to that of the energy crisis and saying that the nation will emerge resilient and ever hopeful, when in fact the energy crisis is not a result of natural disaster, but of poor governance and a lack of decisive leadership.

February 10, 2023 by

NECOM secretariat sees State of Disaster yielding procurement, security benefits

The Presidency’s Rudi Dicks, who also heads the National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM) secretariat, believes the controversial decision to classify the electricity crisis a National State of Disaster will support an acceleration of the implementation of the Energy Action Plan and ensure greater security of electricity assets currently exposed to crime, vandalism and sabotage. Speaking after President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed in his State of the Nation Address that the ‘Impact of the Severe Electricity Supply Constraint’ had been declared a disaster with immediate effect and that an Electricity Minister would be appointed “to assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response”, Dicks argued in favour of the more “centralised” approach being pursued.
February 10, 2023 by

Company gets UK grant to help develop new-generation pumped hydro system

Tailings dam material could be one of the waste materials that could be used to create high-density fluids (HDF) that would enable a new-generation and much more capable form of pumped hydro-energy storage system. This technology is being developed by UK company RheEnergise, in partnership the Universities of Exeter and of Greenwich, in England. And on Thursday the company announced that it had won a £1-million (roughly R21-million) grant from the UK Government’s Energy Entrepreneurs Fund (EEF) …
February 10, 2023 by

State of Disaster declaration possibly a disaster within itself, as parties call on courts

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on February 9 has evoked mixed responses from trade unions, industry associations, academia and businesses, with some taking to the courts against the State of Disaster declaration in respect of the country’s electricity crisis.

Political party the Democratic Alliance (DA) and trade union Solidarity have announced that they will challenge the declaration in court, describing the declaration as irrational, unnecessary and possibly unconstitutional.

February 10, 2023 by

LHWP II Commercial Centre in the preparatory stages of construction

Preparatory stages of construction of the Polihali commercial centre at Masakong are under way after the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) awarded the M11.3-million contract to Unik Construction Engineering in mid-January. The construction of the centre, which is expected to enhance day-to-day access to goods and services in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) Phase II project area, is expected to be completed by December 2023, along with the bulk of the Phase II advance infrastructure.
February 10, 2023 by

Can SA finally turn the switch on its power crisis in 2023?

Stage 4 to 6 loadshedding has become more commonplace over the past few months, with many analysts expecting it to continue and possibly worsen before South Africa’s energy crisis has abated.   Stage 6 has been the highest level of loadshedding introduced so far, although several economists have made the case that blackouts have actually been worse than that, owing to load curtailment on heavy industrial users.  
February 10, 2023 by

Returning in-person Indaba to host Africa energy discourse

The fifteenth edition of the Africa Energy Indaba (AEI) – which will be hosted from March 7 to 9 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, in the Western Cape – will be hosted as a fully physical event for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic and aims to “bring people together to network, engage and learn”. Since the early stages of the pandemic, it was necessary for the company to “think outside the box and challenge the norms” to ensure that Siyenza could continue facilitating progress and collaboration in the energy sector, says event organiser Siyenza Management MD Liz Hart.   
February 10, 2023 by

More investment needed to finance energy projects in Africa

Raising capital for energy projects and building sustainable pipelines is complex in a market that is challenged by demand for fossil fuels, while simultaneously trying to satisfy carbon-neutral policies and commitments. Events organiser Siyenza Management states that data shows that despite Africa’s sizeable population, it only attracts sub-5% of global energy investment.
February 10, 2023 by

Milestone for gas project

Global energy major BP and project partner Technip Energies have reached a new milestone regarding the development of the highly-anticipated Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project located offshore Mauritania and Senegal. In January, the project partners announced that the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit for GTA has officially left China, for the project site. Following three years of construction and successful sea trials of the FPSO unit, the facility – comprising eight processing and production modules – will enable the processing of up to 500-million cubic feet of gas and the production of 2.3-million tonnes a year of LNG during GTA’s first phase.
February 10, 2023 by

Ramaphosa to appoint Minister of Electricity as crisis is declared a national disaster

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he would be appointing a new Minister of Electricity in The Presidency coordinate the response to the electricity crisis, which has now officially been declared a “national disaster” with immediate effect. In his seventh State of the Nation Address on February 9, which was initially disrupted by the Economic Freedom Fighters, the President acknowledged that the country was “in the grips of a profound energy crisis”, which was not only stymying the economic recovery from Covid but also threatening social stability and food security.
February 9, 2023 by