Author Archive for: Engineering News

Power utility Eskom is calling on the public to reduce electricity use, as the system is under pressure owing to a number of generating unit breakdowns. Total breakdowns amount to 14 925 MW, while planned maintenance is 4 759 MW of capacity.

The tenth yearly wind industry conference Windaba, which opened on October 7, marks a decade of wind power in South Africa and the industry has matured to the point that it is ready and able to build an additional 14.4 GW of wind power capacity over the next decade, says industry organisation South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) chairperson Mercia Grimbeek. “Our celebration of ten years of wind energy in South Africa brings us to a confluence as our industry stands ready for the next decade of growth that will be characterised as a resurgence and a period of exponential growth in our country’s energy narrative,” she notes.

JSE-listed platinum-group metals (PGMs) miner Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has selected the Pele Green Energy – EDF Renewables South Africa consortium as the preferred supplier to build a 100 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at its Mogalakwena mine, in Limpopo. Pele Green Energy develops, owns, procures, builds and operates renewable energy power projects, while EDF Renewables South Africa has global expertise in renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar PV and battery storage.

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said on Tuesday that the message of the climate envoys who visited South Africa in the run up to the COP26 climate talks in Scotland was that there is “substantial concessional financing available” to enable South Africa to pursue a just energy transition. He indicated, however, that the initial focus would likely be on supporting Eskom to build the infrastructure required for decarbonisation, as well as to support vulnerable workers and communities, rather than to address Eskom’s legacy debt.

Eskom Holdings, South Africa’s coal-reliant power utility, has become the world’s biggest emitter of sulphur dioxide, a pollutant linked to ailments ranging from asthma to heart attacks, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said. Eskom produced 1 600 kilotons of the pollutant in 2019, the latest year for which comparable data is available, according to the report released on Tuesday by CREA, an air-pollution research organization. That was more than any company, and the total emission of the power sector of any country with the exception of India.