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Ramaphosa outlines six steps to tackle electricity deficit in disrupted Budget Vote speech

President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined six steps for addressing the country’s electricity shortfall in a Budget Vote speech that was delayed and disrupted by opposition Members of Parliament who objected to the address from proceeding in light of a criminal complaint having been lodged against Ramaphosa in relation to the alleged theft of foreign currency from his Limpopo farm in 2020. Speaking against the backdrop of an intensification of load-shedding, Ramaphosa said government was “seized with the need to get as much new generation capacity on to the grid as possible, as quickly as possible”, confirming Eskom’s estimate that the shortfall could be as large as 6 000 MW.
June 9, 2022 by

Eskom completes 80% of boiler defect rectification work for Medupi and Kusile

State-owned power utility Eskom’s actions to rectify major boiler defects at its newly-built Medupi and Kusile power stations is improving the plants’ energy availability factor (EAF), in some cases almost doubling it from when the first boiler’s fires were lit.

The major boiler defects relate mainly to load losses as a result of issues with the boiler’s pulse jet fabric filter (PJFF) plant, gas air heaters and mills.

June 9, 2022 by

SANEDI releases first technical assessment towards Clean Coal Roadmap

A new report from government organisation the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) on clean coal technologies has presented a case for potential opportunities and challenges associated with adopting these in a roadmap towards 2030. The report constitutes Phase 1 in a roadmap towards providing an overview of the current energy carbon landscape in South Africa, the fossil fuel value chains and a high-level qualitative approach to ranking various technologies, SANEDI explains.
June 9, 2022 by

Here’s one idea for ending load-shedding within two years

As Eskom consults a range of experts to assess potential solutions for resolving the load-shedding crisis, independent energy analyst Clyde Mallinson has a proposal that he believes will end rotational power cuts in two years without creating stranded assets or increasing tariffs. The proposed solution is based on detailed modelling of the performance of the current system, which a new Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) report shows to be relying increasingly on rotational cuts of between 1 GW and 4 GW to balance supply and demand.
June 9, 2022 by

China ban on foreign coal investment leaves Zimbabwe scrambling

Zimbabwe’s plan to refurbish two idled coal-fired power stations has been thrown into disarray by China’s decision to ban investment in plants burning the dirtiest fossil fuel outside its borders. Zimbabwe was depending on China to help get the Bulawayo Power Station, which has a design capacity of 90 megawatts, and Munyati Power Station, meant to generate 100 megawatts, to produce electricity to fill a chronic shortfall in the southern African country.
June 8, 2022 by

Busa urges Nersa to continue momentum of registering more distributed generation projects

Business Unity South Africa (Busa) has welcomed the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) registration of new electricity generation facilities under the so-called 100 MW reform. “The fact that registration processes for the 16 new generation facilities were processed within 19 days is very encouraging for businesses ready to generate energy and is an indication that business engagements with Nersa are bearing results,” Busa CEO Cas Coovadia says.
June 8, 2022 by