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Masondo raises R146bn South Africa debt forgiveness

David Masondo, South Africa’s deputy finance minister, suggested that investors forgive about R146-billion of sovereign debt in exchange for the national power utility meeting climate targets. In order to transition from the use of coal to generate electricity to renewable energy Eskom Holdings will need to borrow about R400-billion, equal to its current debt, and will need a “complementary transaction” to achieve that, he said in a speech on Tuesday.
September 7, 2021 by

South Africa’s updated NDC climate pledge to be released ‘very soon’

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy reported on Tuesday that South Africa’s revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which is to be deposited with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change later this year, is close to being finalised and will be presented to lawmakers “very soon”. In a briefing of the Portfolio Committee on Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, on the country’s preparations ahead of the COP26 climate negotiations scheduled for Glasgow, Scotland, in early November, Creecy reported that her department was in the process of synthesising the comments received during the public comment period, including those made by the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC).
September 7, 2021 by

Mantashe appoints new Nersa CEO

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has appointed Advocate Nomalanga Petronella Sithole as CEO and full-time regulator member of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa). Sithole’s appointment is for a five-year period, effective from August 25.
September 7, 2021 by

DTIC establishes metering association

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) has established the South African Metering Industry Association (Samia).

Since the designation of both residential electricity and water meters have created employment, and has benefited component manufacturing industries, the DTIC thought it well to establish the association.

September 7, 2021 by

ANC offers strong endorsement of Eskom’s just energy transaction following lekgotla

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) has given its backing to the just energy transaction being pursued by State-owned electricity producer Eskom. In closing remarks following the NEC’s September lekgotla, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa said that the lekgotla welcomed the detailed planning Eskom had done for a just energy transaction at one power station, which “would ensure that workers and community wellbeing was assured and advanced in this process”.
September 7, 2021 by

Russian arctic mining project to be powered by nuclear energy

Russian civil nuclear shipping and floating nuclear power plant company Atomflot, part of the State-owned Rosatom nuclear group, has signed a preliminary agreement with mining company GDK Baimskaya to provide four small modular reactors (SMRs) to power the miner’s Baimskaya copper and gold development, World Nuclear News has reported. The project is located at a remote site in the Chukotka region of Russia’s far east arctic. (GDK Baimskaya is a subsidiary of KAZ Minerals, itself part of the …
September 6, 2021 by

Engie partners with Scatec for PV support at mine-based hydrogen plant

Renewable energy company Scatec Solar has signed a two-year lease agreement with Engie to provide a mobile plug-and-play solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at its hydrogen production plant at Anglo American Platinum’s Mokalakwena mine, in Limpopo.

Scatec launched its Release by Scatec service in September 2019 – a service through which it offers industrial players in emerging markets access to flexible, reliable and low-cost power.

September 6, 2021 by

ACWA says investor pitch well received as it gears up for IPO

ACWA Power, one of Saudi Arabia’s main vehicles for building renewable energy projects, said meetings with potential investors ahead of an initial public offering have gone “very well.” The company, half-owned by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, is pushing ahead with an IPO it’s been discussing for years, CEO Paddy Padmanathan said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. Over the next five years, the company will double the amount of power it generates, mostly from renewable sources amid a global shift away from burning fossil fuels, he said.
September 6, 2021 by

Eskom CEO says carbon capture being considered in South Africa

Eskom Holdings, South Africa’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is evaluating the use of carbon capture at power plants as part of decarbonisation plans to transform the coal-burning utility. The process that captures carbon-dioxide emissions would need to be financially viable, CEO Andre de Ruyter said in an interview on radio station 702 on Friday.
September 3, 2021 by