Author Archive for: Engineering News

Annual clean energy investment in emerging and developing economies needs to increase by more than seven times, from less than $150-billion in 2020 to over $1-trillion by 2030, if the world is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, a new report shows. The ‘Financing Clean Energy Transitions in Emerging and Developing Economies’ report warns that economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America are set to account for the bulk of emissions growth in the coming decades unless stronger action is taken to transform their energy systems.

Load-shedding will be increased to Stage 4 from 14:00 this afternoon until 22:00 tonight, after which it will revert to Stage 2, Eskom has announced. It says this is due to additional breakdowns of a unit at Medupi and two units at the Duvha power station, together with the high winter demand, as well as to ration the remaining emergency generation reserves, which have been depleted.

South Africa will need to use gas as a “very solid bridge” to ensure a just and inclusive transition to a low-carbon economy, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Business School professor Maurice Radebe has said. The feedstock’s acting as a bridge, he explained during a presentation at the Enlit Africa conference on June 8, is feasible when one considers that gas has 55% less emissions than coal.

Following a successful webinar series on business opportunities in the renewable energy sector in 2020, a second series started in May this year in collaboration between the South Africa Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) and the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA).

The 2020 editions served as a capacity building programme for aspiring renewable energy developers to share knowledge and drive effective change, while the second series is themed on developing the local renewable energy value chain.

The China National Nuclear Power (CNNP) company has received approval to build its small modular reactor (SMR) demonstration plant at Changjiang in China’s southernmost (and island) province of Hainan, “World Nuclear News” has reported, citing a CNNP notice to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. CNNP is a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). The demonstration SMR is designated the ACP100. The project will be owned by the CNNC Hainan Nuclear Power Company, which is a subsidiary of the CNNP (and not a direct subsidiary of the CNNC). The full title of the actual SMR project is the Hainan Changjiang Multipurpose Small Modular Reactor Technology Demonstration Project.