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Shoprite finalises R3.5bn in sustainability-linked loans

The Shoprite group has finalised R3.5-billion in sustainability-linked loans, with the aim to expand its key environmental programmes as part of a wider sustainability strategy.  The finance agreements include a R2-billion loan from Standard Bank, as well as an R800-million sustainability-linked loan and a R700-million green loan from Rand Merchant Bank for investment in environmental projects. 
August 29, 2022 by

Visa backlog hobbling French business ambitions in South Africa – BLSA

A letter by a group of French businesses, who collectively employ more than 65 000 South Africans, has frustrated Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso with its detailing of significant problems facing the businesses in obtaining vital visas to enable French nationals working in South Africa.

“The letter set out the massive problems the companies have had in trying to secure work visas for key personnel – engineers, business controllers and experts needed to run specialised equipment,” she outlines in her latest weekly newsletter on August 29.

August 29, 2022 by

Globeleq signs memorandum for 3.6 GW Egypt green-hydrogen project

Africa-focused independent energy company Globeleq has signalled its intention to develop a large-scale green hydrogen facility in Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone. The company, which is 70% owned by British International Investment and 30% by Norfund, says it aims to capitalise on Egypt’s best-in-class wind and solar resources to competitively produce hydrogen and derivate products for export and the local market.
August 29, 2022 by

Korean company wins major contract for Egyptian nuclear power plant

South Korean company Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) will construct the ‘turbine islands’ for Egypt’s first nuclear power plant (NPP), at El Dabaa, on the country’s Mediterranean coast, some 320 km north-west of Cairo. NPPs are subdivided into ‘nuclear islands containing the reactors and their associated systems and infrastructure, turbine islands, with the electricity-generating turbines and their associated systems and infrastructure, and the ‘balance of plant’, which is basically the …
August 29, 2022 by

Nersa sets earlier comment deadline for new determinations ahead of 5.2 GW renewables bidding round

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has issued an updated invitation, with an earlier September 16 deadline, for written comments regarding its concurrence with new Ministerial determinations allowing for the procurement of 18 791 MW of new electricity capacity. Nersa’s original invitation set a closing date of September 23 for the receipt of public comments, which would have been a day after the bid submission deadline for the sixth bid window (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.
August 26, 2022 by

US President approves extension of nuclear cooperation agreement with South Africa

US President Joe Biden has approved the proposed agreement with South Africa to extend the two countries’ agreement on cooperation regarding the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. This approval took the form of a Presidential ‘determination’, released by the White House on Thursday. The original agreement was signed in August 1995. It entered into effect in early December 1997, and was due to expire in early December this year.
August 26, 2022 by

Nersa deadline for new procurement-enabling determinations out of sync with ambition to double …

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has invited public comment on it providing concurrence with new Ministerial determinations allowing for the procurement of 18 791 MW of new electricity capacity catered for under the 2019 edition of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2019), which covers the period to 2030. However, the deadline set for the submission of comments is a day after the current bid submission deadline for the sixth bid window (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme, which requires a new determination for solar photovoltaic (PV) to enlarge the round to 5 200 MW.
August 26, 2022 by

Eskom losing skills to overseas utilities

The continued flight of highly skilled and experienced technical staff from State-owned power utility Eskom to the local private sector and overseas power utilities is concerning, but also flattering, says Stellenbosch University engineering dean Professor Wikus van Niekerk. “These engineers, which have been trained by quality universities, such as the universities of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Pretoria and the Witwatersrand, have obtained practical experience on various systems after working at Eskom for several years and are now sought after globally,” he adds.
August 26, 2022 by