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Shell pursuing ‘green’ initiatives at Alberton depot

Oil and gas company Shell South Africa’s Alberton depot is pursuing sustainability through two projects, mainly, solar and battery power, and capacitation for biofuels, the company outlined during a media tour of the facility this week. The Alberton depot is a storage and handling terminal for petrol, diesel, and some additives. Employees range between 60 and 100, depending on any project work that is on site, Shell Alberton terminal manager Fikile Nxumalo told Engineering News.
November 28, 2024 by

Regulations governing private participation in transmission network will be out early in 2025, …

Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramakgopa is confident that regulations permitting private sector players to participate in the electricity transmission space will be finalised by the first quarter of next year. Speaking at the Matla-Urja Energy Conference, in Johannesburg, on November 28, he said these electricity reforms were important to redefine the future energy landscape in the country.
November 28, 2024 by

Eskom, Indian power utility sign knowledge exchange MoU

Indian power generation company NTPC has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South African State-owned utility Eskom to exchange knowledge and collaborate on research and development (R&D), among other things. The signing of the MoU took place at the Matla-Urja Energy Conference, in Johannesburg, on November 28.
November 28, 2024 by

Eskom threatens to disconnect Free State municipality over more than R330m in unpaid debt

Power utility Eskom has published a notice of the possible disconnection of bulk electricity supply to Tokologo local municipality, in the Free State, which will result in bulk electricity supply to Boshof, Seretse, Dealesville and Hertzogville being interrupted for a set number of hours each day from January 31. The utility says the municipality currently owes it R328.7-million, excluding the current account of a further R3.68-million that became due and payable on November 20, and that the last payment it received from the municipality was R150 000 in October 2021.
November 28, 2024 by

IMF urges South Africa to prioritise ongoing electricity and logistics reform to enhance …

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has again urged South Africa to implement its economic reforms “ambitiously”, while arguing for priority to be given to reforms in the electricity and logistics sectors that pose binding constraints to higher growth. An IMF staff mission visited South Africa from November 11 to 25 for the 2024 Article IV annual consultation, and a report was published on November 26 that included an IMF growth forecast of 1.1% for this year and 1.5% for 2025.
November 27, 2024 by

Eskom reports successful conversion of its prepaid customer base to KRN 2

Power utility Eskom says it has successfully completed its prepaid meter Key Revision Number (KRN) rollover project, but has set a new deadline of December 13 to assist paying customers who are still experiencing challenges and an estimated 1.7-million zero buyers that are yet to complete the upgrade. Eskom points out that it started off with a customer base of 6.91-million prepaid customers, while a data cleaning exercise fully updated the incomplete details of 341 000 customers, taking the customer base to 7.25-million.
November 27, 2024 by

Eskom welcomes S&P rating upgrade to positive from stable

State-owned power utility Eskom has welcomed the decision by international ratings agency S&P Global Ratings to upgrade Eskom’s ‘B’ long-term global-scale foreign and local currency ratings to positive from stable. The ratings agency also affirmed Eskom’s ‘B’ issue rating on the group’s senior unsecured debt and the ‘BB-’ foreign currency issue ratings on the government guaranteed debt.
November 27, 2024 by

DMRE to push for Cabinet approval of new-look IRP by end-March despite big revisions

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has reiterated its aim of securing Cabinet approval for a new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity by the end of March after releasing a remodelled draft plan on Tuesday. Dubbed IRP2024, the updated plan includes a reference case and scenarios that differ materially from those contained in the draft IRP2023 released in January, leading to some calls for more time for consultations.
November 26, 2024 by

NTCSA appoints EPC suppliers for transmission substations

Following a strategic review of the National Transmission Company South Africa’s (NTCSA’s) corporate plan, which includes focusing on accelerating the delivery of the Transmission Development Plan (TDP), long-term agreements were signed with 28 local companies to provide the NTCSA with the services for the construction of substations. To date, the NTCSA has signed agreements with over 60 suppliers over the last few months, enabling them to respond to tenders and supply services in the areas of transformers, engineering services, overhead lines and substations.
November 25, 2024 by

Eskom finalises technical breakthrough enabling it to extend deadline for meter conversions

State-owned utility Eskom has noted that it, at the weekend, succeeded in a technological breakthrough enabling it to pre-create Key Change Tokens (KCT) on its online vending system. This meant that buyers with active meters, but who had not bought electricity in recent months, had been granted an extension to update their meters to be Key Revision Number 2 (KRN2) compliant beyond the November 24 deadline.
November 25, 2024 by