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Ford South Africa’s Silverton plant switches on 13 MW of solar

Automaker Ford South Africa’s (Ford SA’s) Silverton assembly plant, in Pretoria, which produces the Ranger pickup for the domestic and export markets, has officially started sourcing 35% of its electricity needs from solar photovoltaic (PV) energy generation. Ford SA has a long-term power purchase agreement in place with SolarAfrica, which installed PV carports for 3 610 vehicles at the Silverton plant.
May 10, 2022 by

South Africa gearing up to negotiate ‘new paradigm’ climate finance deal

South Africa aims to pursue a financing solution that embraces a “different paradigm” with regard to the allocation of risk, as well as return expectations and investment horizons, when negotiating the terms and conditions of a $8.5-billion climate finance offer made in November by several developed countries. A ‘Political Declaration on the Just Energy Transition in South Africa’, which incorporates the financing offer, was signed with the European Union, France, Germany, the UK and the US on the side-lines of the COP26 climate talks, in Glasgow, Scotland.
May 9, 2022 by

Stage 2 load-shedding kicks in on Monday evening, says Eskom

Stage 2 load-shedding will “regretfully” be implemented from 17:00 until 22:00 on Monday evening, Eskom said in a statement.  The previous bout of load-shedding was suspended just two days previously, on Saturday. Earlier, Eskom said the power system had recovered sufficiently to meet the demand during the day. “[But] Eskom would like to caution the public that load-shedding might be required at short notice during the evening peaks should there be further breakdowns in currently available capacity,” the utility said. Eskom had expected to return to service a generation unit each at Kusile and Kendal power stations before Monday evening. But it warned that should either of these units fail to return to service, there would be an “increased probability” of load-shedding at short notice.
May 9, 2022 by

Ramaphosa positive about electricity reform progress despite power cuts and procurement delays

President Cyril Ramaphosa has attempted to put a positive gloss on the uneven progress being made under Operation Vulindlela to reform South Africa’s load-shedding-prone electricity supply industry. Writing in his weekly newsletter, he said that “a number of important, interconnected reforms are under way to change the way that we generate and consume electricity”.
May 9, 2022 by

Global nuclear body launches commercial hydrogen production roadmap initiative

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced that it is to develop a roadmap for the commercial scale production of hydrogen using nuclear power. This was because hydrogen was forecast to play a central role in future clean energy systems, especially in the ‘hard to abate’ sectors of the economy, such as steel, chemicals, and the various transport sectors. “Today the vast majority of hydrogen needed across industries is manufactured using fossil fuel technologies (primarily …
May 6, 2022 by