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Workable solutions to mitigate SA’s energy crisis

South Africans have become accustomed to working and living with load-shedding over the past few years. Scheduled and unscheduled power outages have become a reality, with 1 130 hours of planned power cuts experienced in 2021 alone. Recently, the country was warned that the future of its electricity supply does not look bright and to prepare for about 61 days of load-shedding between April 01, 2022 and August 31, 2022 – depending on unplanned unavailability.
May 27, 2022 by

First hydrogen-burning power plant operational

Energy supplier Long Ridge Energy Terminal (Long Ridge) – a subsidiary unit of transportation and infrastructure company Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors and an affiliate managed by asset management firm GCM Grosvenor – announced a successful first step to transition Long Ridge’s power plant toward carbon-free hydrogen.
May 27, 2022 by

Local construction sector continues to struggle

The fragile South African construction sector is being further weakened by the continuing lack of implementation of the infrastructure delivery plan by government, as well as the demand for residential, retail and commercial buildings from the private sector, says diversified infrastructure and services construction company Concor CEO Lucas Tseki. Owing to South Africa’s poor economic state and the consequences of the pandemic, significant projects have been cancelled or delayed over the past two years.
May 27, 2022 by

NUM frustrated at exclusion from Mpumalanga energy summit

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has expressed its frustration at not having been invited to participate in a two-day energy summit held in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga, earlier this week. The union says the Mpumalanga government had undermined it as a key stakeholder in the just energy transition. The summit was led by Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tshipane and attended by various provincial and national stakeholders including representatives from the Congress of the South African Trade Unions and power utility Eskom.
May 26, 2022 by

South Africa needs $250bn to transition away from coal

South Africa, the world’s thirteenth-biggest source of greenhouse gases, will need to spend $250-billion over the next three decades closing down its coal-fired power plants and replacing them with green energy, according to a study. In addition to closing down the country’s coal-fired plants and building wind and solar power plants, money will need to be spent compensating coal-dependent communities whose livelihoods are threatened by the change, The Blended Finance Taskforce and the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University said. Most of the money will need to come from the private sector, according to the study.
May 26, 2022 by

NCPC-SA energy efficiency objectives ‘big opportunity’ to reduce South Africa’s carbon …

Considering the economic objectives in South Africa and, despite the challenges facing the country, the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA) believes there remains a “big opportunity” to reduce the country’s carbon intensity. This opportunity, Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) green industries chief director Gerhard Fourie said, was largely approached through the NCPC-SA’s resource efficiency programmes, including the Industrial Energy Efficiency (IEE) project, and which assist industry to address water and energy use challenges.
May 26, 2022 by