Entries by

Court decision to determine South African power security, DNG plans

A court hearing on Tuesday will determine whether South Africa can move forward with a project to top up its energy capacity after a year of record power blackouts. The ruling will also be critical for the businessman who blocked the plan with his lawsuit. The country’s efforts to add power capacity with an emergency program ground to a halt when 39-year-old Aldworth Mbalati’s DNG group of companies sued the government alleging corruption in the award of a contract. DNG, which has UK politician Peter Hain on its board and, according to Mbalati, counts Helios Investment Partners among its backers, lost the case in South Africa’s High Court in January. It applied to appeal, a decision on which will determine whether the project will be stalled further.
March 22, 2022 by

Eskom considering taking on climate funds as equity injection

State power company Eskom is planning to propose that some of the funding the country secured to help tackle climate change take the form of loans to the government that could be converted to equity in the utility when needed. The arrangement would enable Eskom to access the $8.5-billion pledged by the US, the UK, Germany, France and the European Union without adding to its debt burden, a person familiar with the proposal said. The company wants to use the money to fund the closing of some coal-fired power plants and the construction of renewable-energy facilities to replace them.
March 22, 2022 by

Innovative citizen ownership model proposed for just transition to renewables

A financial model that enables the building of public renewables assets using funds from citizens, who receive ongoing inflation-adjusted payments in return that are linked to the asset’s power purchase agreement (PPA), is being proposed for integration into South Africa’s planned just energy transition. The mechanism is being promoted by energy specialist Clyde Mallinson, who believes the approach could help allay the fears of those stakeholders who remain sceptical of wholesale private ownership of generation assets, while also delivering tangible security-of-supply and financial benefits to municipalities along with annuity payments to citizen investors.
March 22, 2022 by

Court orders government to clean up air in coal belt

A South African court on Friday upheld a complaint by activists that poor air quality in the coal belt is a breach of constitutional rights, giving the environment minister a year to enforce a clean air plan. South Africa’s coal belt, east of the capital Pretoria and main city Johannesburg is home to an estimated 3.6-million people, as well as a dozen Eskom coal-fired power stations and some Sasol petrochemicals plants.
March 18, 2022 by

Carbon prices decline despite energy costs increasing owing to war on Ukraine – Fitch Solutions

Carbon prices have tumbled in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, decoupling from the broader energy complex, despite the steep rise in gas prices, which should have incentivised gas-to-coal switching, raising emissions and so driving up the demand for European emissions allowances (EUAs), says research organisation Fitch Solutions. From a peak of €96/t carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) on February 8, to their trough at €58/t CO2e on March 7, EUAs lost about 40% of their value, the agency states.
March 18, 2022 by

Economic recovery from Covid-19 threatened by geopolitical tension surrounding Ukraine

Signs of a slow recovery in manufacturing so far this year – which were in part being driven by improvements in production in Europe and Asia – may now be threatened by escalating geopolitical tension in Europe on the back of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and a simultaneous resurgence of the Covid-19 virus in China, research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan consulting analyst Nomvo Kasolo said on March 17. “However, pockets of opportunity exist for markets that can fill the gaps in exports from Russia,” she noted.
March 18, 2022 by

Irmsa warns economy is in for drastic growth decline should fuel caps, Stage 8 load-shedding ensue

With resurgent warnings about load-shedding potentially increasing as high as Stage 8 and the possibility of fuel rationing in the domestic market, the Institute for Risk Management South Africa’s (Irmsa’s) ‘Risk Report’ for 2022 states that the South African economy is in for serious energy risks.

Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer recently confirmed that the State-owned power utility was using nine-million litres of diesel a day at its open-cycle gas turbines in order to avoid load-shedding or to keep load-shedding at lower levels while its coal fleet is struggling to meet supply.

March 18, 2022 by