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Load-shedding suspended until Tuesday evening

Eskom has suspended load-shedding for Tuesday morning and afternoon, and is expected to implement it again at 17:00. The power utility said the round of stage 2 cuts will then run until 22:00 on Tuesday night, the original ending time for the round of load-shedding announced on Sunday. “Over the past 24 hours Eskom teams have returned seven generation units to service. This has helped ease the supply constraints, and enabled Eskom to suspend load-shedding at this point. However, this is currently insufficient to fully supply the evening peak,” the utility said.
May 18, 2021 by

Rolls-Royce-led consortium unveils optimised design for its small modular reactor

UK-based global industrial technology group Rolls-Royce has announced that the small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) consortium that it leads has upgraded the SMR’s design and increased its power output. This announcement, on Monday, marked the completion of the first phase of the project, which was achieved on time and under budget. Further, the consortium (UK SMR) aims not only to be assessed by UK regulators during the second half of this year, but also to be the first reactor design to be assessed by them during this, just opened, assessment ‘window’. This would keep the programme on course to construct its first SMR early next decade and have built as many as ten by 2035.
May 18, 2021 by

Patel says vision for R200bn in additional localisation has top-level corporate backing

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel announced that an “accord” had been reached at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) to drive progressive localisation of up to R200-billion of additional production over a five-year period. Delivering his virtual Budget Vote, Patel said the strategy had the support of major corporates and that 30 ‘CEO champions’ – including Mamongae Mahlare of Illovo, Mark Cutifani of Anglo American, Vikesh Ramsunder of Clicks, Fleetwood Grobler of Sasol and Fortune Majapelo of Bushveld – had been nominated from the private sector to support the localisation push.
May 18, 2021 by

Kibo, IGES to develop portfolio of waste-to-energy projects in South Africa

The share price of JSE- and Aim-listed Kibo Energy rose by more than 7% and 3% on the JSE and LSE, respectively, on May 18, after the company announced that it had entered into an agreement with South Africa-based Industrial Green Solutions (IGES) to jointly develop a series of waste-to-energy projects in South Africa. The companies have established Newco, in which Kibo will hold a 65% interest and IGES the balance, to deliver the projects. The parties have set an initial target of generating more than 50 MW of electricity for sale to industrial users.
May 18, 2021 by

No place for new coal in $5tr/y transition to net-zero by 2050 – IEA study

A new and far-reaching study of how to transition the global energy system to one with net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 highlights the need for a dramatic acceleration in the pace and scale of renewable-energy and grid investment, while simultaneously halting new fossil-fuel supply projects and abandoning any new unabated coal plants. Published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) as part of preparations for the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties, or COP26, climate gathering scheduled for Glasgow, Scotland, in November, the ‘Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector’ report concludes that the world has a viable, albeit narrow, pathway for limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels.
May 18, 2021 by

SAWEA hails decade of clean energy in the country

May is National Energy Month in South Africa and, as the renewable energy sector commemorates a decade of clean power in the country, industry organisation the South Africa Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has noted the contribution the country’s operational wind farms are making.  “Energy Month is an opportune time to consider the impact that wind power has had over the last decade in South Africa and the sector’s achievements,” says SAWEA CEO Ntombifuthi Ntuli.
May 17, 2021 by

Ivanhoe, DRC utility partner to deliver hydropower for Kamoa mine

To support the continued successful performance of the Kamoa mining complex, Ivanhoe Mines Energy DRC, a sister company of Kamoa Copper, has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding to establish a public-private partnership (PPP) with the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) State-owned power company La Société Nationale d’Electricité (SNEL) to deliver reliable, clean and renewable hydropower to the Kamoa mine. Ivanhoe Mines co-chairpersons Robert Friedland and Yufeng Miles Sun explain that Ivanhoe Mines Energy DRC’s PPP with SNEL is aimed at working together to strengthen the grid’s capacity with renewable energy through the upgrade of a turbine at the existing Inga II hydropower plant, in the southwest of the DRC, on the Congo river – the deepest river in the world and the second-longest in Africa after the Nile river.
May 17, 2021 by

Eskom approves higher Duvha coal price, facilitating South32 mine sale to Seriti

State-owned electricity producer Eskom confirmed on Monday that the Duvha coal supply agreement (CSA) had been increased to facilitate the sale of South32’s majority shareholding in South32 SA Energy Coal Holdings (SAEC) to black-owned resources group Seriti. The utility also announced that the CSA modification, which had attracted much criticism in recent months, had also been approved by the National Treasury on May 1.
May 17, 2021 by

Solar minibuses for Africa? Data seen as key to green transport switch

As emissions from African transport surge, governments need to find ways to encourage a shift to cleaner, healthier electric vehicles, especially among the minibus and motorcycle taxis that dominate transport in many cities, researchers said on Thursday. Investment in generating more solar-powered electricity to charge electric vehicles (EVs) could encourage their use, cut pollution and costs for passengers, and help stabilise unreliable energy systems, they said in a commentary published in Nature Sustainability.
May 14, 2021 by