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South Africa lays out climate demands to rich polluters ahead of COP27

Developing nations expect rich countries to commit more funding to adapt to global warming and a financing mechanism to help them cope with natural disasters when they meet at the COP27 climate summit in November, South African Environment Minister Barbara Creecy said. Creecy was one of the prominent African voices before the COP26 event in Glasgow last year. She’s demanded affluent nations that have emitted the bulk of the world’s climate-warming gases commit more assistance to those most affected by the impact of rising temperatures.
September 15, 2022 by

Stage 4 until weekend as even more units break down at Kendal, Majuba

Eskom will be implemented at Stage 4 throughout Thursday and Friday, with only a possibility of lower stages from Saturday morning, Eskom said on Wednesday.  “Eskom teams are working around the clock to return units to service, but in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to carry out unplanned maintenance to return units to service, we unfortunately have to implement load shedding as a last resort,” Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said in a statement.
September 14, 2022 by

Nersa says Eskom is seeking deviation from IRP to build 3 000 MW of combined cycle gas

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has confirmed that Eskom has not applied for a Ministerial determination for a 3 000 MW combined cycle gas power plant at Richards Bay in terms of the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 (IRP2019), but is instead seeking permission to deviate from the IRP2019. On September 12, Nersa circulated an erratum to a consultation paper published for public comment on August 25 in relation to it providing concurrence to a Ministerial determination for the procurement of 3 000 MW of gas-fired electricity.
September 14, 2022 by

South Africa suffers 100th day of power blackouts this year

South Africa’s State-owned power utility has implemented power cuts on 100 days in 2022, with more to come. Eskom Holdings ramped up outages to so-called Stage 4 load-shedding, where it removes 4 000 MW from the grid, on Tuesday after three generation units at its Kendal coal-fired station about 100 km east of Johannesburg tripped. The utility expects to reduce this to 2 000 MWfrom Thursday until the end of the week. That will bring the total days of outages in the third quarter to 40, Bloomberg calculations show.
September 14, 2022 by

Ebitda, operating profit improvements illustrate Bushveld’s ‘strong’ interim results

Aim-quoted integrated vanadium producer and energy storage solutions provider Bushveld Minerals on September 13 reported significant improvements in revenue, earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) and operating profit for the six months ended June 30.   Bushveld FD Tanya Chikanza noted that revenue had increased by 62% year-on-year to $76.2-million for the period under review. This increase was one of the key factors in improving adjusted Ebitda, which swung from a loss of $15.6-million in the 2021 interim period –  an improvement of $26.4-million year-on-year.
September 13, 2022 by

Creecy outlines rules exempting solar projects from environmental authorisation

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy has initiated public consultations on the exclusion of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations from the need to secure an environmental authorisation when located in areas of medium or low environmental sensitivity. The Minister has given the public 30 days to comment on the proposed exclusion, which is provided for in Section 24(2)(e) of the National Environmental Management Act.
September 13, 2022 by

South African business formations make joint appeal for carbon-tax relief

Several organised business formations have outlined six recommendations in a joint position statement on carbon tax, which they argue will improve the carbon tax proposals in the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and “avert unintended consequences”. Released by the Energy Council of South Africa, Minerals Council South Africa, Business Leadership South Africa, Business Unity South Africa, the South African Petroleum Industry Association and the Energy Intensive Users Group, the joint statement stresses that organised business is supportive of carbon pricing, including the carbon tax, to help decarbonise the economy and facilitate a just transition.
September 13, 2022 by

Cascading problems after Kendal coal conveyor belt broke led to Stage 4

Eskom had to jump to Stage 4 load-shedding on Tuesday morning after a coal conveyor belt broke at Kendal, leading to cascading problems and the failure of three units at the power station.  “In the early hours of this morning a conveyor belt feeding coal into Kendal Power Station failed. To conserve coal, the power output of the generators was reduced, but this required fuel oil to be used to sustain the boiler combustion,” Eskom said in a statement. 
September 13, 2022 by