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Eskom, Sasol face government ultimatum to meet emission limits

Eskom Holdings and Sasol, South Africa’s two biggest polluters, must comply with emission limits even if it costs them tens of billions of rand, Environment Minister Barbara Creecy said. The companies, which use coal to produce electricity and gasoline respectively, have sought to avoid installing so-called flue-gas desulfurization, or FGD, units at their facilities to reduce sulfur dioxide pollution because of their cost.
March 10, 2021 by

National strategy seen as key first step for countries keen to tap green-hydrogen potential

The publication of a national hydrogen strategy has been identified by the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) as the crucial first pillar in an evolving four-pillar policymaking toolbox for countries that are either planning to export or import green hydrogen as part of their multi-pronged decarbonisation efforts. In fact, Irena knowledge and policy specialist Emanuele Bianco argued during a webinar on Tuesday that such a strategy was required not only to define a country’s level of ambition for green hydrogen, but also to outline the amount of support required and provide a reference on hydrogen’s development for private investment and finance.
March 10, 2021 by

S&P sees Eskom debt solution as key to unlocking restructuring

Ratings agency S&P Global Ratings sees finding a solution to Eskom’s unsustainable debt position as potentially key to meeting the timelines proposed for the broader restructuring of the State-owned utility into three units of generation, transmission and distribution – an unbundling that is also viewed as necessary for reforming South Africa’s electricity supply industry and attracting much-needed private generation investment. Speaking during a virtual update on South Africa on Tuesday, corporate ratings director Omega Collocott said the restructuring was progressing “slowly”, but had been negatively affected by the disruptions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic as well as operational difficulties that had resulted in recent bouts of rotational power cuts.
March 9, 2021 by

Renewable energy sector striving to increase gender representation at all levels

A decade into the creation of South Africa’s renewable energy sector, it has become apparent that it is still lagging in gender diversity, which is why South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) CEO Ntombifuthi Ntuli says the industry is actively giving attention to adjust and improve the levels of gender representation, at all levels, with the launch of its Gender Diversity Working Group. “Gender diversity means a fair gender representation across all spheres of our industry,” she comments, lamenting that a 2020 report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) and the Women in Wind Global Leadership Program shows that women represent only 21% of the global wind energy workforce and only 8% of its senior management.
March 8, 2021 by

Egypt’s Sisi ups pressure for Ethiopia dam deal on Sudan visit

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on Saturday for a binding deal by the summer on the operation of a giant Ethiopian hydropower dam, as he made his first visit to neighbouring Sudan since the 2019 overthrow of Omar al-Bashir. Egypt also signalled support for Sudan in a dispute with Ethiopia over an area on the border between the two countries where there have recently been armed skirmishes.
March 8, 2021 by

Renewables procurement to resume

Creamer Media’s Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about South Africa’s plans to resume the procurement of renewable energy after a six-year stall, what commitments have been made by government and the potential for industrialisation around the programme?  
March 5, 2021 by

Kruisvallei hydro project comes on line

Power project developer Red Rocket has announced the start of commercial operations at the 4 MW Kruisvallei hydropower plant, along the Ash River between Clarens and Bethlehem, in the Free State.

The completion of the plant comes almost two years since construction began on March 26, 2019.

March 4, 2021 by