Author Archive for: Engineering News

Western Cape Finance and Economic Opportunities Minister David Maynier and Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Minister Anton Bredell have welcomed a decision by the Stellenbosch municipal council to consider generating and using alternate electricity energy supplies to beat load-shedding and become more energy resilient. “Through the Municipal Energy Resilience (MER) Project, the Western Cape government will be supporting the Stellenbosch Municipality in its aim to become energy resilient. The MER project is spearheaded by our Green Economy unit at the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, which is working in collaboration with the Department of Local Government and Provincial Treasury to assist municipalities to take advantage of the new energy regulations, which may include purchasing of energy directly from independent power producers (IPPs),” they say in a joint statement.

African energy company African Rainbow Energy and Power (AREP), which was founded by Dr Patrice Motsepe, has expanded its investment in the renewables sector with the acquisition of a strategic stake in the SOLA Group. The companies joined forces at the end of 2020, with AREP acquiring a 40% stake and becoming the largest individual shareholder in the group. The deal also includes a significant investment into the group to fund further expansion.

The De Wildt Solar farm, situated within the Madibeng local municipality, close to the town of Brits, in the North West province, on January 23 entered into commercial operations, having achieved facility completion.

This 50 MW photovoltaic project is the fourth utility-scale plant that has come on line in the North West in under five months, helping to make the province a serious player in the renewable energy sector. All four projects are 100% South African-owned and do not only deliver much needed power to the country’s national grid, but also provide benefits to the local rural communities through impactful economic development programmes.

The chair of a new global commission established to offer governments guidance on making their energy transitions more “people-centred” says that the creation of green jobs and the transitioning of existing fossil-fuel labour forces into new sectors will be “key factors for a clean, just energy transition”. Danish Energy and Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen, who chairs the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) new global commission on people-centred clean energy transitions that is being led by Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, said on Tuesday that it was not enough to show that green industries were more job-intensive than the oil, gas or coal sectors.

State-owned electricity utility Eskom will make the case later this month for the immediate execution of a High Court order stipulating that an amount of R23-billion stripped unlawfully from its allowable revenue in 2019 by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) be added back during its 2021/22 financial year. Should it succeed, the standard average electricity tariff would rise by 15.6% on April 1, instead of the 5.01% already sanctioned by Nersa.