Author Archive for: Engineering News

Africa has considerable potential to generate solar and wind energy at a low cost, as it hosts many areas of high solar irradiation and good wind speeds. There is also potential to transport that energy to other areas where there is high demand for green energy to produce hydrogen, Delft University of Technology Professor Dr Ad van Wijk has said.

South Africa’s National Treasury is considering whether it would be better to move a chunk of Eskom Holdings’ R464-billion of debt into a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) or have the State take over responsibility for it directly, people familiar with the situation said. While banks have led discussions for the last few weeks over the creation of a so-called SPV that would take over at least R100-billion of Eskom’s debt, and possibly much more, that debt would almost certainly have to be guaranteed by the government, the three people said, asking not to be identified because an announcement hasn’t been made.

The tender for the construction of the largest of three bridges that will span the Polihali reservoir and that will be built as part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) Phase 2 – the Senqu River bridge – was released on March 4.

The bridge will be the first extradosed bridge, which combines pre-stressed box girder and cable-stayed elements in an efficient design, in Lesotho.

The bridge will be 825 m long and almost 100 m high. Work on the bridge design started in 2018, led by Zutari, formerly Aurecon Lesotho. Zutari also designed the Mabunyaneng and Khubelu bridges and will supervise the construction of the three bridges.

Solar industry organisation the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) says it welcomes the inclusion of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects among preferred bidders for the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) announced by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on March 18. “With technological advancement, the reduced costs, the scalability and rapid build times of projects, solar PV should remain a key technology choice in meeting the country’s capacity requirements,” says SAPVIA COO Niveshen Govender on March 19.

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) intends convening a virtual bidders conference in April to provide information on the qualifying criteria and bid submission expectations for the fifth bid window (BW5) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The department formally launched the request for proposals (RFP) for BW5 after midnight on March 19, ending a near seven year interruption in the procurement of new wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity.